Stefan Armbruster
Industry Fellow and Correspondent
Stefan Armbruster is an award-winning correspondent with more than 30 years of reporting experience in Australia and overseas. His coverage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait, multicultural, and Pacific affairs has been recognised with numerous journalism awards including from the Australian Human Rights Commission, UNAA , Queensland Clarions. He is a Colombia University Dart Centre Asia-Pacific fellow and a Walkley Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism recipient in 2023.
A delegate with Australian journalists’ union MEAA for more than a decade, he advocates for media freedom and media workers' rights. Stefan mentors and trains students and journalists, including in the Pacific with ABC Pacmas, and produces and delivers regional journalism workshops and forums.
He began as a broadcaster at Brisbane public radio 4ZZZ-FM in 1988. A DFAT -funded journalism attachment in 1994 at the Fiji Broadcasting Commission ( FBC ) established his ongoing connections with the Pacific region.
During almost a decade based in London he was a journalist and senior producer at BBC Radio 4’s flagship ‘Today’ current affairs program, the World Service and then ground-breaking News Online platform, as well as reporting and producing for Dow Jones and CNBC .
Returning to Australia in 2003, he was a senior producer at ABC News Online before becoming SBS World News’ Brisbane-based correspondent, covering Queensland and the Pacific region.
Rowan Callick
Industry Fellow and Columnist
Rowan Callick is an Industry Fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute, and a columnist for The Australian. He grew up in England, graduating with a BA Honours from Exeter University, and worked for a daily newspaper before moving to Papua New Guinea, becoming general manager of a locally owned publishing, printing and retail group. In 1987 he moved to Australia, working for almost 20 years for The Australian Financial Review including as Hong Kong based China Correspondent and as Asia Pacific Editor. He worked for The Australian from 2006 to 2018, including two postings to Beijing as China Correspondent, and as Asia Pacific Editor.
Rowan is a governor of the Foundation for Development Cooperation and a member of the advisory boards of La Trobe Asia and of the China Studies Department also at La Trobe University. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute for International Affairs, and has won two Walkley Awards and the Graham Perkin Award for Australian Journalist of the Year. He was awarded the OBE at the nomination the government of PNG for services to journalism and to the training of PNG journalists. He has written three books, each published in English and Chinese, the most recent being “Party Time: Who Runs China And How” (Black Inc in Australia, and internationally by Palgrave Macmillan as “The Party Forever: Inside China’s Modern Communist Elite,” by Palgrave Macmillan).
Sean Jacobs
Industry Fellow
Sean Jacobs is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian writer, and government relations and public policy specialist. He is a former Brisbane City Council election candidate, ministerial adviser, United Nations worker, international youth volunteer, and national water polo champion.
Sean holds a BA (International Relations) from Griffith University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism from Macquarie University. He also holds qualifications from the Australian National Security College, the Australian Institute of Management and the University of New England.
Peter Johnson
Industry Fellow, Agribusiness
Peter is a Senior Horticulturist and Adjunct Industry Fellow at Griffith Asia Institute. He is a recognised international researcher who has worked in Australia and Southeast Asia for over 25 years.
Peter has significant horticulture export development experience, particularly in sea freight and supply chain technology improvements including controlled atmosphere shipping using an integrated value chain approach. He is currently involved in research and development activities relating to mango production and trade in Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. Peter has published over 30 industry and government papers on tropical fruit crop research.
Ian Kemish AO
Industry Fellow
Ian Kemish is a former senior Australian diplomat with interest and expertise in the history of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and in Australia’s engagement with those regions. He originally graduated with Honours in modern Southeast Asian history from the University of Queensland. Ian’s Government career included service as High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ambassador to Germany, Head of the Prime Minister’s International division and DFAT’s Southeast Asia Division. He was awarded membership of the Order of Australia for his role, as Chair of the Government’s International Emergency Task Force, in leading the response to the 2002 Bali bombings. Mr. Kemish moved to the private sector in 2013, supporting companies to improve their sustainability and community development outcomes in the Indo-Pacific. This included the adoption of new greenhouse gas emissions targets and biodiversity objectives by leading ASX companies. Ian received a UQ Alumni Excellence Award in 2014.
Dr Peter Layton
Visting Fellow
Peter Layton has extensive military and defence experience over more than 35 years. He has a doctorate from the University of New South Wales on grand strategy and has taught on the topic at the Eisenhower College, US National Defence University. For his academic work he was awarded a Fellowship to the European University Institute in Italy. For his work at the Pentagon, he was awarded the US Secretary of Defense’s Exceptional Public Service Medal. In 2020, he became a RUSI (UK) Associate Fellow.
Research interests
- Grand strategy, including national security strategies
- Strategic/ security studies particularly as relates to middle powers
- International relations theory
- Australian defence policy
- Alternative Futures development including for the Pacific Islands
- Pacific Island defence, security and aviation issues
Jack Whelan
Industry Fellow
Jack Whelan is a senior international technical, environmental and sustainability specialist with experience working with governments, multi and bi-lateral development agencies, public and private sectors, and leading not-for-profit organisations. I returned from Europe to Australia in 2008 after 30 years in tertiary education and senior technical, research and policy advocacy positions specialising in energy, climate change, biodiversity, sustainable development, responsible business practice and public-private partnerships. Engaged in the Asia-Pacific region while based in Sydney, my international development sectoral focus has focused on solid waste management, clean technology, renewable energy, infrastructure disaster resilience, climate change policy, social and environment safeguards and sustainability. I have also initiated and led several multi-stakeholder partnership programs in Asia-Pacific, including the ‘E4ALL’ - Energy for All partnership supported by ADB, and ‘ACRE’– Australian Carbon Rangeland Enterprises – which developed a rangeland carbon methodology for deployment under the Carbon Farming Initiative. I currently participate in the Sustainability Professional Membership category of the Australia New Zealand Pacific Plastics Pact ‘ANZPAC’, including its 3 technical workstreams.
Research interests
Australia, New Zealand, Asia-Pacific:
- sustainable development, disaster risk and resilience planning;
- post-COVID economic, social and environmental recovery;
- climate change adaptation, mitigation, renewable energy/clean tech policy, planning and management;
- solid waste, recycling and resource management.