People
The Indo-Pacific Research Strand is led by Professor William Hurst, Chong Hua Professor of Chinese Development within the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Cambridge. He has been joined this academic year by Postdoctoral Research Associate William Figueroa, whose work and expertise focus on Iran and China in the 20th Century.
Why is the Indo-Pacific region important?
The Indo-Pacific region encompasses the majority of the world’s population and over 40% of global GDP (along with almost two-thirds of global GDP growth, per World Bank data). The Indo-Pacific also includes the largest and second largest countries in the world, as well as at least three global powers (China, Japan, and India – though the other two global powers, Russia and the US, are also both very active there), the largest and most important newly democratic country in the world (Indonesia), the world’s largest and second largest majority-Muslim countries (Indonesia and Pakistan), the most important high-technology economies (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan), at least three world financial hubs (Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore), and many of the most critical geopolitical flashpoints (Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, South China Sea, India-Pakistan, etc.).
What is the aim of the Indo-Pacific Geopolitics Programme?
The aim of the Centre’s Indo-Pacific research strand is to deliver policy-relevant discussion and analysis of geopolitical issues right across the entire region, firmly and deeply grounded in history and area studies. This offering is unique within the UK (and we believe more widely).
To this purpose, the strand has thus far delivered a robust series of speaker events, ongoing commentary articles for the Centre’s newsletter and a variety of major media outlets, and the first two iterations of our Indo-Pacific Roundtable. The Roundtables are a particularly important part of building a new Indo-Pacific network, as they bring academics from various disciplines and specialties from across the country together and into conversation with think tank analysts, consultants, officials and experts from a various government departments and agencies, and others.
View the Indo-Pacific Geopolitics Programme brochure here