Dr Adam Simpson

At UniSA Dr Simpson is Inaugural Program Director: Postgraduate Programs in the School of Creative Industries with responsibility for the nested Master of Aboriginal Studies suite of programs, the Graduate Diploma of Communication (Public Relations) and from 2020 the new nested Master of Communication suite of programs. He was Inaugural Director of the Centre for Peace and Security in the Hawke Research Institute. 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 Relations, which is also the focus of his teaching responsibilities.

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 (Burma): A Critical Approach to Environmental Politics in the South (2014), was the first monograph in Routledge's 'Transforming Environmental Politics and Policy' series. 

An updated paperback edition of the book was published by NIAS Press in 2017 with a new Postscript analysing recent political developments in Myanmar and Thailand. 

He is lead editor, with Nicholas Farrelly and Ian Holliday, of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar (2018), which comprises 40 full-length chapters written by the world's leading Myanmar scholars from the US, Europe and Asia.

He is also editing a forthcoming Routledge volume with Nicholas Farrelly, Myanmar: Politics, Economy and Society.

He has a book under contract with NIAS Press entitled Natural Resource Governance in Myanmar: Civil society and Transparency Under a Regime in Transition.

He is also working on a monograph on Illiberalism and Transitions to Energy and Climate Security in Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam.

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

In September-October 2020 he will take up a Guest 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.

He is 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