Dr Bates Gill is the Professor of Asia-Pacific Security Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney, and Senior Associate Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. He has a 30-year career as a scholar, policy advisor and author, focusing on Asia-Pacific politics, foreign policy and security, with a particular focus on China and U.S.-China relations.  An academically-trained and internationally-respected China specialist, he has led a global top-ten think tank and held academic and research positions at world-leading universities and public policy research institutions in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific in a 30-year international career.

Dr. Gill received his Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia.  He has previously held positions at the Australian National University and the University of Sydney (2012-2017). He was Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (2007-2012) and held the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C (2002-2007). He also served as a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and inaugural Director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution (1998-2002). Among his international honours, he holds the Royal Order of the Commander of the Polar Star and was named a top-ten American China expert by the Chinese Foreign Affairs University in 2015.

He has published eight books and over 200 other publications, including most recently, Rising Star: China’s New Security Diplomacy (Brookings Institution Press, 2007) and China Matters: Getting it Right for Australia (Black Inc/LaTrobe University Press, 2017) (with Linda Jakobson).  His current research projects include a focus on the modernisation of Chinese strategic forces (nuclear, cyber, space) and the fundamental drivers motivating PRC foreign policy under Xi Jinping.