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Senior Research Associate, Nautilus Institute, and Honorary Professor in the School of Political and Social Studies, The University of Melbourne

Richard Tanter is Senior Research Associate, Nautilus Institute, and Professor in the School of Political and Social Studies at the University of Melbourne. From 2004 – 2010 he was Professor of International Relations in the Research and Innovation Portfolio, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Director of Nautilus Institute in Australia, where he coordinated Austral Peace and Security Net, the Australian Forces Abroad briefing book series (including Australian Bases Abroad and Australian Defence Facilities), and the Climate Change and Reframing Australia-Indonesia Security project. Within Nautilus he has been closely involved in the Global Problem Solving project, the East Asian Science and Security Collaborative, and the Indonesian Nuclear Power Proposal study project.

From 1989-2003 Richard was Professor of International Relations in the School of Environmental and Social Studies at Kyoto Seika University in Japan. After returning from Japan in 2003, he was Senior Curriculum Consultant to Deakin University for its Security Studies graduate program at the Australian Defence College’s Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies. His PhD dissertation for Monash University in 1992 was on Intelligence Agencies and Third World Militarization: A Case Study of Indonesia.

Richard has worked on peace, security and environment issues in East and Southeast Asia as analyst, policy advocate and activist since the 1970s. His research has focussed on militarisation and peace issues in Indonesia, Korea and Japan, as well as the wider politics of East and Southeast Asia. In East Asia he has written on questions of Japanese security policy, its intersection with US policy and relations with China, the issues of Japanese missile defence and electronic intelligence capabilities, and the possibilities of Japanese acquisition of nuclear weapons. More recently he has been working with Nautilus colleagues and research partners on theoretical and policy aspects of nuclear extended deterrence in East Asia and the Pacific; nuclear energy issues in East and Southeast Asia; and Australian defence and foreign policy.

Experience

  • –present
    Senior Research Associate at the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, Melbourne University
  • –present
    Professor, School of Social and Political Studies, Melbourne University