Genna’s policy experience has focused on geostrategic issues in our region, including advising on Australia’s relationship with ASEAN and the Quad, and a posting to Bangkok. She also has trade policy experience, including in the Office of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Her combination of expertise sparked her interest in the increasing intersection between trade, foreign and security policy. She speaks Thai and Japanese.

Genna’s PhD thesis aims to draw lessons for Australia on ways our close partner, Japan, is managing geoeconomic dynamics. Her thesis will examine how Japanese industry has responded to geopolitical risks and the Japanese Government’s economic security policies. She plans to evaluate policy options for Australia to manage geoeconomic risks and will identify opportunities for Australia and Japan to enhance cooperation on geoeconomic issues.

Since joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2012, Hannah has worked in a variety of foreign policy and international development roles focusing on Southeast Asia and climate change.  During a posting to Laos from 2014-18, Hannah managed political and economic bilateral relations and development projects.  From 2018 to 2021, Hannah was part of Australia’s delegation to UN climate change negotiations and worked to integrate climate change across the Australian aid program.

Hannah’s research aims to improve understanding of the governance of the energy transition in Southeast Asia. Specifically, she is taking a case study approach to examining the growing trade in electricity in Southeast Asia. While regional electricity trade can support uptake of renewables, progress towards an ASEAN Power Grid has been incremental and its future development faces a complex set of political and economic barriers. Through her research, Hannah hopes to develop a better understanding of the factors supporting successful trading relationships, so as to inform regional diplomacy and technical assistance programs.

Michelle has spent the past decade working on climate change policy for the Australian Government. She most recently worked in the International Climate Change Branch of the Department of the Environment and Energy, where she led the global analytics function and supported Australia’s involvement in the G20 Climate and Sustainability Working Group. She was an emerging leader at the 2017 EU-Australia Leadership Forum and an inaugural recipient of the 2019 JWLand research fellowship for the ANU Grand Challenge Zero Carbon Energy in the Asia-Pacific.

Meeting the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement requires massive public and private investments to facilitate rapid decarbonisation, accelerate electrification, and develop negative emissions technologies in hard-to-decarbonise sectors. New kinds of investment governance are required to facilitate this transition. Through her PhD research, Michelle will explore different dimensions of this governance, including the development of an international benchmarking framework for Green Banks, models for green investment governance in the Asia-Pacific, and the roles of Public Banks in the transition to net zero emissions.