Dr Adam Simpson

Dr Simpson is Senior Lecturer in International Studies within UniSA Justice & Society. He was founding Program Director for the University's Master of Communication and its nested suite of postgraduate programs, for which he taught the core course, Communication, Media and Creative Industries. He contributes Global Politics courses to the Law, Policy and Politics and History and Global Politics majors within the Bachelor of Arts. 

He has had three books recently published by Routledge:

• Myanmar: Politics, Economy and Society (new volume 2021)
• Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar (paperback edition 2020)
• Energy, Governance and Security in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma): A Critical Approach to Environmental Politics in the South (paperback edition 2020)

Dr Simpson was also previously Program Director for the Master of Aboriginal Studies suite of programs and in 2013 was Inaugural Director of the Centre for Peace and Security in the Hawke Research Institute at UniSA. He is Senior Lecturer in the Global Politics program and Associate Member of the Barbara Hardy Institute. He is an Associate at the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, University of Sydney, and the Indo-Pacific Governance Research Centre (IPGRC), University of Adelaide, where he was formerly Associate Lecturer in International Politics.

Prior to academia he worked as an Analyst with several US and British investment banks in the City of London including Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America), Bankers Trust International (now Deutsche Bank) and NatWest Global Financial Markets (now Royal Bank of Scotland). He has travelled widely, particularly in the less affluent countries of the global South. This work and travel informs his research and results in a critical approach to international politics.

His research focuses particularly on environmental politics/security and development in Myanmar and Thailand. He has published in leading international journals such as Society and Natural Resources, Environmental Politics, Third World Quarterly and Pacific Review. His book, Energy, Governance and Security in Thailand and Myanmar (distributed in the US by the University of Hawai'i Press), was the first monograph in Routledge's 'Transforming Environmental Politics and Policy' series. Together with the updated paperback edition by NIAS the book has been reviewed 20 times in refereed academic journals.

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar comprises 40 full-length chapters written by the world's leading Myanmar scholars from the US, Europe, Australia and Asia.

He contributes op eds and articles, particularly on politics in Myanmar, to policy and news sites such as The Conversation (including articles on the military coup [translated into French, Spanish and Indonesian by The Conversation and republished in over a dozen Australian and international outlets], Myanmar's elections and Aung San Suu Kyi and the Rohingya [republished by ABC News]). Articles have also appeared in The Lowy Institute's The Interpreter including on Myanmar's coup, ANU's East Asia Forum and Inside Story. He has also been interviewed for podcasts and media including The Conversation Weekly and ABC Radio National.

Dr Simpson was Founding Co-Convenor of the Australian Political Studies Association Environmental Politics and Policy Research Group and was President of the Ecopolitics Association of Australasia.

In 2021 he will take up a Visiting Scholar position at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University, Japan. He previously undertook a 6-month fully-funded Research Fellowship at CSEAS February-July 2016.

In 2017 he was Visiting Scholar at SOAS, University of London.

In 2014 he was Visiting Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London.

In 2011 he was Visiting Lecturer at Keele University, UK.

Since 2013 he has been a Detailed Assessor for the Australian Research Council National Competitive Grants Program.

Membership of Professional Organisations:

• Australian Political Studies Association (APSA), Environmental Politics and Policy Standing Group (Founding Convenor)
• International Studies Association (ISA), Environmental Studies Section
• European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR), Environmental Politics Standing Group
• International Political Science Association (IPSA)
• British International Studies Association (BISA), International Political Economy Group and Environment Working Group
• Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG), Human and Environmental Security Program

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of Adelaide

• Master of Environmental Studies University of Adelaide

• Graduate Diploma of Education Southern Cross University

• Bachelor of Economics University of Adelaide

• Bachelor of Science (Maths and Computer Sciences) University of Adelaide