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Scholars


an image of Genna Lehman
SRW Pat Turner Scholarship 2022

Genna Lehman

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade                                                                                           

Australian National University

Master of Asian and Pacific Studies

Genna joined the Australian Public Service in 2010. She has extensive experience providing advice on Australia’s relationship with its Southeast Asian neighbours, including during a posting to Bangkok and managing Australia’s engagement with the ASEAN-led leaders’ forum, the East Asia Summit. She speaks Thai and Japanese.

The evolving geostrategic environment is increasingly influencing domestic policy, and it’s critical that APS employees provide evidence-based advice to enable Australia to deftly navigate the sharpening strategic competition. The ANU Master of Asian and Pacific Studies, will enhance Genna’s ability to analyse intersecting foreign, trade and security interests to provide nuanced policy advice.

Genna’s Masters thesis will analyse the intersection of Australia’s foreign policy, trade and security interests in our relationship with China and how this will inevitably affect our relationships with the region, major powers and multilateral forums.


Craig Leon
SRW Pat Turner Scholarship 2019

Craig Leon

Services Australia

Australian National University

PhD title: Unconscious bias in the Australian Public Service: implications for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment

Craig joined the Department of Human Services in 2016, having worked in four other APS departments and agencies and the ACT Government over a period of 20 years. With experience across policy, program administration and human resources in central, state and regional roles, Craig has purposely remained in Indigenous Affairs throughout his career.

Craig’s most recent role in Indigenous Employment Strategies has focused on positioning Services Australia as an employer of choice for Indigenous employees. Craig’s has combined his professional experience, qualifications in strategic HR, and interest in cultural proficiency in his research. Craig’s research will use a mixed methods approach to investigate where unconscious bias impacts practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment in the Australian Public Service. With his research, Craig’s wants to turn the organisational focus inward by investigating how Australian Government bureaucracy functions from a culturally proficient perspective.

Supervisor:
Dr Boyd Hunter
  • Leon, C 2022, 'Insights for Indigenous employment into a case study of unconscious bias in the Australian Public Service', Australian Journal of  Social Issues, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.221.

an image of Hannah Lord
SRW Scholarship 2021

Hannah Lord

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Australian National University

PhD title: Governing energy transitions in Southeast Asia: the role of regional power trading

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. A three-year posting to Laos sparked Hannah’s interest in energy policy in Asia, where she was responsible for political and economic reporting and managed several Australian aid programs. Since 2018, Hannah has been part of Australia’s delegation to UN climate change negotiations, leading on gender and climate finance reporting issues. 

Hannah’s research aims to improve understanding of energy policy and governance in East Asia, in the context of the transition to a net zero emissions energy system to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This will help Australian diplomats and policy-makers, as well as Australian business looking to invest in low-emissions export industries, to respond to the opportunities and challenges of a rapidly evolving regional energy sector. 

Supervisor:
Dr Christian Downie

Michelle Lyons
SRW Scholarship 2020

Michelle Lyons

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Australian National University

PhD title: Banking on Paris: Public investment governance and evaluation in the transition to net zero emissions

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.

Supervisor:
Professor Frank Jotzo
 
The Sir Roland Wilson Foundation is a partnership between The Australian National University, Charles Darwin University and the Australian Public Service.