About us

Research and analysis

Nurturing the highest quality research and analysis on regional affairs is important to Australia, and the School is arguably the world's leading centre for the study of Asia-Pacific politics, broadly defined.

Scholars across the Department of International Relations, Department of Political & Social Change, State, Society & Governance in Melanesia, and the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre address an array of overlapping audiences. Some are concerned primarily with theoretical debates in their respective disciplines, others favour the multidisciplinary synthesis of area studies, and many are principally oriented toward policy analysis.

In our research and analysis, we engage with scholars and policymakers throughout Australia, the region, and the world. The range of research approaches found within the School, moreover, provides clear affirmation of the virtues of methodological diversity in social scientific inquiry.

Education and research training

As a close complement to our research and policy analysis, the School contributes fully to the educational and research training mission of the ANU. We accomplish this both through our highly regarded PhD, graduate coursework and research programs, and through the expansion of our longstanding contributions to the undergraduate program of the College.

Public engagement

The School's educational work extends far beyond the confines of the classroom. As part of the ANU's special compact with the nation, the School continues - through the media and other public engagement - to promote broader understanding of contemporary regional and international affairs.

Hedley Bull Centre

In recognition of the ANU's large concentration of expertise on international relations and diplomacy, strategic studies, and comparative politics, the University, supported by the Federal Government's Department of Education, Science, and Training, constructed a major new facility to house the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, the Department of International Relations, the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, and the Department of Political and Social Change.

The building is named the Hedley Bull Centre, in honour of Australia's most celebrated international relations scholar. Professor Hedley Bull was joint Head of the ANU's Department of International Relations from 1966 to 1976, and it was during this period that he wrote his most famous work, The Anarchical Society.