People
The Lowy Institute has a core of highly credentialed research staff and nonresident fellows. It also draws on external partners and invites leading international figures to participate in the Institute's activities.
Experts
Australian foreign policy; US politics and foreign policy; Asia and the Pacific; Global institutions
Strategy and geopolitics; global governance; Australian foreign policy; Southeast Asia; Data analysis
Ahmed Albayrak is a Research Assistant in the Lowy Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre. Prior to joining the Lowy Institute, he completed a Master of Environmental and Resource Economics degree at the Australian National University where he specialised in economic modelling. His research interests include structural transformation, energy transition and climate change policy. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne.
Australian foreign policy news; long-form research publishing on strategy, security, geopolitics and economics.
Aid to Pacific Islands, Pacific development policy; Pacific women’s development, Pacific Island politics, remittances.
Public finance, debt management and crisis, poverty and inequality, growth and emerging markets
Politics and economics in Asia and the Pacific; Aid and international development policy.
Gilliane De Gorostiza is a Research Assistant at the Lowy Institute working on the Pacific Aid Map. Her research interests include foreign policy in Asia and the Pacific, nowcasting, and identifying sources of persistent changes in macroeconomic and financial conditions.
Prior to joining the Institute in 2023, Gilliane worked as an Economic Researcher at the Asian Development Bank, where she contributed to ADB's flagship publication, the Asian Development Outlook (ADO), and a range of Knowledge and Support Technical Assistance (KSTA) projects. She also gained valuable experience working in various Philippine government agencies, including the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the House of Representatives — Ways and Means Committee, and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Gilliane holds an MSc in Industrial Economics from the University of Asia and the Pacific in the Philippines and is currently completing her PhD in Economics at the University of Sydney.
Pacific Islands aid and development; development finance
Australian foreign policy and politics; Australia’s intelligence services; international relations in Asia
Climate adaptation, foreign aid and finance, decarbonising development
China’s state-society relations, Chinese civil society, NGOs, development, social policy, philanthropy, Overseas Chinese communities, Australia-China relations
Pacific Islands development and security, resource management, human security and resilience.
Terrorism and violent extremism; digital technology; disinformation; authoritarianism; national security; emergency management and countering violent extremism; crisis and natural disasters; radicalisation; counterterrorism; policy; Middle East; US national security
Economics and politics in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific; trade policy; economic history
China’s political system and the workings and structure of the communist party; China’s foreign relations, with an emphasis on ties with Japan, the two Koreas, and Southeast Asia; Australia’s relations with Asia.
Australian foreign policy and public opinion, climate change and sustainability, multilateral diplomacy, China and Hong Kong.
Dr Hilman Palaon is a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute in the Indo-Pacific Development Centre. His work focuses on digital economy issues in the Indo-Pacific region. Hilman has extensive experience in government, development, engineering, fintech, digital platform, audit and consulting, and academia. He has previously worked for Ernst & Young, USAID, TNP2K (the Indonesian Government's National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction), Gojek/GOTO, and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge. He has also worked as a consultant/adviser for the Asian Development Bank, MoneyGram, Eachmile Technologies, Novus Technologies, and Protiviti.
Hilman holds a PhD in Management Science from the Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia. He studied in Germany and Spain for his postgraduate degrees: Process Engineering and Energy Technology at the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven, Global Management at the University of Applied Sciences Bremen, and International Marketing at the University of Valencia. His undergraduate degree is in Electrical Engineering from the University of Indonesia. His research interests are the digital economy, economic empowerment, financial inclusion, and technology innovation.
Indo-Pacific strategy; Australian foreign policy; Southeast Asia.
International economic policy; Asia Pacific economies; macroeconomics; economic development; aid and development finance; globalisation; geo-economics.
Australian foreign and defence policy, China’s military forces, US defence and foreign policy, drones and other military technology. Also, trends in global democracy.
Australian foreign policy in the Pacific; Australia-PNG relations; geopolitics in the Pacific; Melanesia; conflict analysis and fragile states
International economics and political economy, geoeconomics, growth and development, macroeconomics
Nonresident Fellows
Papua New Guinea; The Pacific Islands region; Australia's foreign correspondents
Political and strategic developments in East Asia; transnational security issues; intelligence; Australian national security and defence
Australian economic policy; monetary policy; international economics; banking
Indonesian foreign policy; Indonesian democratization; ASEAN and regional political and security issues
Japan's foreign policy; Australia-Japan relations; Japanese foreign aid
International security; defence and security; Chinese defence policy
International economic policy, economic and financial development, productivity growth, social policy and evaluation
Regional economic integration; Australia's economic relations with East Asia; international financial flows and the global financial architecture; financial sector development in East Asia
Pacific Islands politics; Pacific Islands economic and social development; governance; statebuilding
International security policy; strategic policy; civil-military relations; Indonesian defense and security policy
Southeast Asian security; violent extremism; international law and cyber-security
Pacific and PNG; international development assistance; international health challenges; global issues impacting on indigenous peoples
Russia-Ukraine war; military history and strategy; advanced technologies
Macroeconomic policy; economic reform; the role of financial institutions in economic development; Myanmar; Indo-Pacific
China; Chinese foreign and domestic policy; Chinese development policy
Operations staff
Shane McLeod is the Lowy Institute's Director of Media and Communications.
Carmel Phillips is the Director of Finance and Accounting at the Lowy Institute for International Policy.
