Matthew Ehret
Matthew Ehret is a journalist, Senior Fellow at the American University of Moscow, and BRI Expert for Tactical Talk. He is a regular author on several political/cultural websites including Los Angeles Review of Books: China Channel, Strategic Culture, and Oriental Review. He has also authored three books from the series the Untold History of Canada.
Pearls and Irritations guest Jian Zhang
Jian Zhang is an Associate Professor in International and Political Studies at the School of Humanities & Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy, the University of New South Wales, Australia
RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service
RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service is an award-winning, multimedia source of independent news and informed debate, covering major stories and underreported topics, including women, minority rights, high-level corruption, and religious radicalism.
Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove
Rev. Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove is the author of Revolution of Values: Reclaiming Public Faith for the Common Good.
Mike Callanan
Michael Callanan is a retired teacher of Logic and History, with an interest in international relations and contemporary history.
Imran Khalid
Imran Khalid is an international affairs commentator and freelancer based in Karachi, Pakistan.
Marty Hirst
Marty Hirst is a founding member of Socialists in MEAA and a long-term socialist activist in Melbourne.
Michael D. Breen
Michael Breen, twenty years a Jesuit, then educational psychologist (Boston College) and researcher, (Ireland) student counsellor,(Bathurst and Wollongong Unis) organisational psychologist,(private practice, mostly in W.A.) Zen practitioner Dai Boku.
Jude Conway
Dr Jude Conway is a Novocastrian historian, who edited Step by Step: Women of East Timor, stories of Resistance and Survival (2010) and whose 2022 PhD thesis is on the Newcastle women’s movement. Jude was a fellow activist for the self determination of East Timor, who first met Vacy Vlazna in 1997 and remained friends since that time.
James A. Millward
James A. Millward is a professor of history at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, where he teaches Qing, Chinese, Central Asian and world history.
Dermot O’Gorman
Dermot O’Gorman is a global champion for a future-focused, purpose-driven mindset. His aim is to catalyse a regenerative revolution for nature, communities and climate. At this critical moment in time for our planet, Dermot is leading environmentalists, philanthropists, businesses and governments in envisioning a regenerative future. With over 23 years of experience as a CEO, Dermot has worked across Europe, China, the US, and the Pacific region. His expertise spans human development, environmentalism, social justice, philanthropy, public funding, private equity, and innovation.
Sophie Vorrath
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
William J. Barber II
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, and co-chair of the the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. His books include: “The Third Reconstruction: How A Moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear” (2016), “Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organising” (2018) and “We Are Called to Be a Movement” (2020). Follow him on Twitter @RevDrBarber.
Coco Yixin Yin
Coco Yixin Yin, a master’s student at Nanjing University, is an intern at the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG) contributing to its Pekingnology and https://www.eastisread.com/The East is Read newsletters.
Mike McIntire
Mike McIntire is an investigative reporter, author and editor. As a member of the investigations unit at The New York Times, he shared Pulitzer Prizes in 2022 for reporting on the hidden financial incentives behind police traffic stops, and in 2017 for reporting on covert Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election
Vivienne Porzsolt
Vivienne Porzsolt is a a secular Jew whose parents were refugees from the Nazis. She is a longtime activist for a range of social justice issues. She is spokesperson for Jews against the Occupation in Sydney and has been an advocate for justice and equality in Palestine/Israel for many years.
Robert Wood
Dr. Robert Wood has been a Benjamin Franklin Fellow at University of Pennsylvania and an Endeavour Research Fellow at Columbia University. The author of more than 300 articles and five books, Robert serves as a Director at Centre for Stories. He has a fortnightly interview on politics on community radio station RTR FM. Robert lives in Perth.
Jesse MacKinnon
Jesse MacKinnon is a high school history teacher running for Congress in California’s 10th District. He is challenging a sitting Democratic incumbent in the primary because of congressional Democrats’ unwillingness to meaningfully oppose the Trump administration.
Josephine Ma
Josephine Ma is China news editor and has covered China news for the Post for more than 20 years. As a correspondent in Beijing, she reported on everything from the 2003 Sars outbreak to the riots in Lhasa and the Beijing Olympics in 2008. She has been based in Hong Kong since 2009. She has a master’s degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in English language from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Nader Hashemi
Nader Hashemi is the director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and an associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is also a non-resident fellow at DAWN.
Amy La Porte
Amy is an Emmy-nominated writer, producer, and former CNN television reporter. She now leads a nonprofit organisation and has taught journalism and communications theory at several universities in Australia and the United States.
Ruby Walter
Ruby Walter is Assistant Associate Dean, Nursing, and Associate Professor, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne.
Samuel Cairnduff
Dr Samuel Cairnduff is a lecturer in media and communications in the School of Culture & Communication at the University of Melbourne, where he teaches across arts and cultural management, strategic communications, and public relations. His research examines cultural leadership, institutional ethics, and the role of cultural organisations in social change.
Mukhtar Amanbaiuly
Mukhtar Amanbaiuly Undergraduate Student at Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities Political Science and International Relations.
Asma Khalid
Asma Khalid is an independent researcher and former visiting fellow at the Stimson Center. Her areas of interest are nuclear politics and security issues of South Asia. Twitter: @AsmaKhalid_11
Elizabeth Finkel
Dr Elizabeth Finkel holds a PhD in biochemistry and was a research scientist at the University of California, before becoming an award winning Melbourne based writer. Her work has appeared in publications ranging from the US journal Science to ABC radio’s Science Show. She is the author of two books. Stem Cells: Controversy on the Frontiers of Science published in 2005, won a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award. The Genome Generation, published in 2012, was described by The Canberra Times as “science writing of the highest order.” The Weekend Australian described her as a “scientist with a journalist’s genes.”
Royce Kurmelovs
Royce Kurmelovs is an Australian freelance journalist and author of The Death of Holden (2016), Rogue Nation (2017) and Boom and Bust (2018). He lives in Adelaide, South Australia.
Sherine Al Shallah
Sherine Al Shallah is a PhD Candidate at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and Teaching Fellow at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney.
Carl Gopalkrishnan
Carl Gopalkrishnan is an Australian/UK international visual artist and writer whose art works explore intergenerational trauma, faith and queerness, and creative thinking in international intervention. As an Australian of Indian, Chinese and English heritage based in Australia, Carl has also worked in senior policy adviser roles on social cohesion issues for The Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) and the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), and as a researcher for State Governments. Carl advises communities and government on social cohesion issues at the intersections of multiculturalism, faith and diverse sexuality and gender (LGBTQIA+).
Dave Kellaway
Dave Kellaway is on the Editorial Board of Anti*Capitalist Resistance, a member of Socialist Resistance, and Hackney and Stoke Newington Labour Party, a contributor to International Viewpoint and Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres.
Sinead Barry
Sinead Barry is Program Manager, Master Mental Health, and Senior Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne.
Mona Shtaya
Mona Shtaya is a Palestinian digital rights defender, working as the Campaigns and Partnerships Manager (MENA) and Corporate Engagement Lead at Digital Actions; she is also a 2024 Migration and Technology Monitor Fellow and a non-resident scholar for the Middle East Institute (MEI) in the Palestine-Israel program.
Sara Dowse
Sara Dowse is an American-born Australian feminist, author, critic, social commentator, and visual artist. Her novels include Schemetime published in 1990, Sapphires, and As the Lonely Fly, and she has contributed reviews, articles, essays, stories, and poetry to a range of print and online publications.
Roberta Esbitt
Roberta Esbitt is an international architect, property developer and academic with a special interest in residential property markets. She has a B.Arch from Cornell University (USA), and an M.Bus (Property) and a PhD from RMIT University (Australia), and since 2007 was sessional lecturer at RMIT as well as guest lecturer in Europe. She is currently an Associate at RMIT University.
Refaat Ibrahim
Refaat Ibrahim is a Palestinian writer from Gaza and the founder of The Resistant Palestinian Pens ( https://resistantpens.org/ ). A graduate in English Language and Literature from the Islamic University, he writes about political, social, and cultural issues in Palestine. Through his work, he amplifies Palestinian voices under occupation, believing writing is a bridge between truth and people’s hearts and minds.
Stephen Bartos
Stephen is an internationally recognised expert on governance, regulation and public finance.
Stephen was Professor of Governance and Head of the National Institute of Governance at the University of Canberra, and also a Commissioner with the International Airservices Commission, the regulator that governs operators’ access to international air passenger and freight routes into and out of Australia.
Azizur Rahman
Azizur Rahman is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Construction, Property and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne.