——- 2026 GLOBAL NETWORK CONFERENCE | ACITI & CIBEL | UNSW SYDNEY
Reimagining
Global Trade
The architecture of global trade has changed. Over two days in Sydney, business leaders, senior officials, legal experts and leading academics examine what replaces it — and what Australia needs to do to surf the wave.
Proud to partner with Trade Data Monitor and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as an
Official Conference Sponsors
22-23 October 2026
UNSW CBD Campus, Sydney
Washington D.C
Beijing
Canberra
Brussels
Singapore
Delhi
Geneva
Tokyo
Brasilia
Washington D.C Beijing Canberra Brussels Singapore Delhi Geneva Tokyo Brasilia
02
DAYS
07
PANELS
30+
SPEAKERS
1
GLOBAL CONVERSATION
WHY NOW
TRADE IS BEING REWIRED
Tariffs, industrial policy, national security, climate change and AI are reshaping trade rules faster than institutions can keep up. Over two days, policymakers, trade lawyers, economists and technologists gather at UNSW to work through what's actually changing — and how Australian business, government and researchers can stay in front.
National security & trade policyIndustrial policy vs. open marketsAI & emerging tech in tradeGreen trade & critical mineralsGlobal trade risk managementTHE PROGRAM
TWO DAYS, SEVEN PANELS
Day 01 | Thur 22 Oct
9.30
10.30-11.00
Panel 1 — Global trade: what has changed, and why does it matter?
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Professor James Laurenceson is an economist, educator, analyst and researcher. He is Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS:ACRI), Australia’s first and only research institute devoted to studying the relationship of the two countries.
Professor Laurenceson conducts research that seeks to inform Australia’s engagement with China. His research has been published in leading scholarly journals including China Economic Review, China Economic Journal, Journal of Contemporary China and Australian Journal of International Affairs.
Professor Laurenceson also provides regular commentary on contemporary developments in China’s economy and the Australia-China relationship. His opinion articles have appeared in The Australian Financial Review, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, South China Morning Post, among many other publications.
He has previously held academic appointments at the University of Queensland (Australia), Shandong University (China) and Shimonoseki City University (Japan). -
Ms Patricia Holmes is the First Assistant Secretary, Trade Law and Economic Security Division and Chief Trade Law Officer at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
From 2019 to 2022, Ms Holmes was the Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to the WTO, UNCTAD and WIPO. Ms Holmes’ previous positions include Assistant Secretary, Trade and Investment Law Branch and Assistant Secretary, FTA Legal Counsel Branch. Ms Holmes was Australia’s Ambassador to Argentina from November 2011 to December 2014. She served as chargé d'affaires of the Australian Embassy in Mexico March 2023-August 2023. Ms Holmes has previously served in Geneva WTO (Counsellor 2006-2009), PNG (First Secretary 1998-2000) and Vanuatu (Third, later Second, Secretary 1994-1996).
Ms Holmes holds a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Law (Hons) degree from Macquarie University; a Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the University of Technology, Sydney; a Master of Arts in Foreign Affairs and Trade and a Masters of Laws in Environmental Law from the ANU. Ms Holmes was admitted to the Bar of NSW and the ACT in 1992 and holds an ACT government practicing certificate.
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Dr Prudence Gordon is Executive Director of the Australian Centre for International Trade and Investment (ACITI). Prior to taking on the role at ACITI, she was a Senior Adviser and Adviser to three Australian Ministers for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Other previous roles include General Manager, Trade and Economics at the National Farmers Federation, and eight years with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). At DFAT, Pru worked in the Office of Trade Negotiations and the China Economic and Trade Section. She spent three years as a diplomat working in the Trade Branch of the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. Prior to joining DFAT, Pru worked in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of New South Wales, and the Department of International Relations at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University (ANU). She spent two years as Dean and Acting Head, Fenner Hall, at the ANU. She began her career as the Trade Policy and Research Adviser at the Parliamentary Research Service, Parliament House, Canberra.
11.00 - 12.30
Registration Opens
Welcome and Opening Remarks
2.00 - 3.30
Panel 2 — How is trade used to achieve national security objectives, and is it effective?
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Victor is a partner in N&A’s international trade practice based in Brussels, the seat of the European Union. With more than ten years of experience working in Brussels and Geneva, he advises clients from Europe and Asia on EU regulations, trade remedies and litigations before the EU Courts, as well as on international economic law with a particular focus on WTO and free trade agreements. Victor also engages in academia regularly publishing in leading journals such as the European Journal of International Law and the Journal of International Economic Law.
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Hayley Channer is Director of the Economic Security Program with the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Hayley brings an interdisciplinary lens to her analysis, having worked as an Australian government official, Ministerial adviser, scholar, and represented global non-profit organisations.
Hayley works at the intersection of economic policy and national security and brings expertise on trade and tariffs, industrial policy, critical mineral supply chains, and public-private partnerships. She regularly convenes government, industry, and academia to bridge gaps between different stakeholders to arrive at policy solutions.
Previously, Hayley was a Department of Defence official working across the Strategy, Policy and Industry Group as well as with Defence Science and Technology (DST).
Hayley is frequently quoted in the media, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and her work has been published in Foreign Policy, the Australian Financial Review, and academic journals. She has spoken at the Australian Parliament House, the National Press Club, Sydney Opera House and overseas. Hayley has a Master of International Relations from the University of Queensland and a Certificate in Public Policy from the London School of Economics.
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Lisa is a Professor of Law at the UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice and a founding member of CIBEL. Her research focusses primarily on the sociolegal dimensions of international trade law and dispute resolution. She is an alumna of the Fulbright program, as the awardee of a senior fellowship sponsored by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Prior to academia, Lisa practised commercial law in Australia at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and in Vietnam at Baker & McKenzie, where she developed expertise in WTO law, dispute resolution, and general commercial practice. She has worked across East, Southeast, and Central Asia funded by the Australian, US and Canadian governments and with international donors such as the Asian Development Bank.
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4.00-5.30
Panel 3 — Is Mark Carney's vision for an intergovernmental system based on variable geometry realistic?
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Meredith Kolsky Lewis is Professor of Law at the University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York and Associate Professor at the Victoria University of Wellington Law School.
Meredith's research focuses on international economic law, with a particular emphasis on international trade law. Her recent research has focused on plurilateralism and its interplay with, and implications, for the multilateral trading system.
She is a founding member and former Co-Executive Vice President of the Society of International Economic Law and former co-rapporteur of the International Law Association’s Committee on Sustainable Development and the Green Economy in International Trade Law. She has held leadership positions in ASIL and ANZSIL interest groups and is currently co-chair of the US APEC Study Centers Consortium. Meredith serves on several editorial boards, including the Journal of International Economic Law and Journal of World Investment & Trade.
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Professor Wagner is an internationally recognised expert in international economic law and governance, international peace and security, as well as US and Australian constitutional law. His recent scholarship has focused on various aspects of international economic law. He is leading a project titled Weaponised Trade which has seen increasing impact around the world. He is also undertaking research on international food law, including on the domestic and international regulation of cellular agriculture (including cultivated meat) as well as the challenges of implementing the concept of sustainable food systems into international trade law. These strands of research build on and expand his work on second and third generation barriers to trade (including measures to regulate toxicity and other public health measures).
He joined the School of Law in 2018 from Warwick Law School, and has previously worked at the University of Miami. He obtained his law degree in 2002 and a master’s degree in international law in 2005, both from the Faculty of Law at the University of Giessen / Germany. From 2002 to 2005, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg / Germany, during which time he also served as legal counsel for the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York. In 2006, he graduated from Stanford Law School with an LL.M. degree. Professor Wagner subsequently clerked for then-President of the Supreme Court of Israel, Aharon Barak. Starting in 2007, he worked for the Brussels office of WilmerHale.
Professor Wagner was elected the Executive Vice-President of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) in 2018 and re-elected in 2021, having served in governance roles in SIEL previously. Professor Wagner has advised international organizations and has presented at academic and professional conferences in the areas of international economic law and autonomous weapon systems.
Professor Wagner is co-founder and Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Law & Geoeconomics (L&G) published by Brill and served as the Associate Editor for the Journal of World Investment and Trade (JWIT) until 2023 and sits on the advisory boards of the European Law Students Association John H. Jackson WTO Moot Court Competition and the Göttingen Journal of International Law (GoJIL).
Professor Wagner holds an appointment as Visiting Research Fellow at the Mandela Institute at the Oliver Schreiner School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He has held visiting professor positions at the Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogota, the Universidad Los Andes in Bogota, the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and Public International Law in Heidelberg, the Center for Teaching and Research of WTO Disputes at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing and the law faculties at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, the University of Leipzig, the University of Hamburg and the Fundaçao Getulio Vargas in São Paulo. -
Bernard Hoekman is part-time Professor and Director, Global Economics at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He was awarded a European Research Council Advanced Grant in 2024 for a project studying Plurilateral Integration Agreements and Noneconomic Objectives (PIANO).
Previously he was Director of the International Trade Department and a Research Manager in the World Bank. He served as economist in the GATT Secretariat during the Uruguay Round.
A graduate of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, he holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. He has published over 300 articles on international cooperation, trade policy and economic development and is the co-author of The Political Economy of the World Trading System (with Michel Kostecki, Oxford University Press).
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Philipp Ivanov is a strategist and advisor on geopolitical risk, resilience and academic security, with two decades of executive experience across government, think tanks and universities in Australia, the United States, China and Russia.
He is currently Chief Global Resilience Officer at RMIT University, Australia’s most internationalized university of technology, design and enterprise, where he is leading a university-wide global resilience strategy. He is the Founder and CEO of GRASP (Geopolitical Risks and Strategy Practice), an advisory firm helping companies, governments and universities and their leaders build geopolitical resilience.
A globally recognised expert on China and China-Russia relations, Philipp has been published in the New York Times, Financial Times and the South China Morning Post.
Recently, Philipp was Global Chief Programming Officer at Asia Society New York, and CEO of Asia Society Australia. Earlier, he served as a diplomat and China policy officer in the Australian Government. A Fulbright Scholar, Endeavour Executive Fellow and McKinsey Executive Leadership Program alumnus, Philipp has lived and worked in China, United States and Russia, and speaks fluent Chinese and Russian.
9.00-10.30
Day 02 | Fri 23 Oct
Panel 4 — Is industrial policy antithetical to open markets and how can Australia reconcile industry policy goals with liberal trade?
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Louise McGrath is Head of Industry Development and Policy at Australian Industry Group. She provides strategic leadership and guidance for our policy agenda in building competitive industries through global integration, infrastructure development and innovation. She ensures members have a voice at all levels of government and represents and promotes their interests on current and emerging issues. Louise represents Australia in several multilateral forums, such as the B20 Taskforces, Global Business Coalition and the East Asia Business Council working group on RCEP. She advocates for members during free trade negotiations and translates those agreements to support members' strategic aims. Louise is a board member of Standards Australia and the National Reference Group of The Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS). She also represents Australian Industry Group on the International Trade Remedies Forum, National Committee for Trade Facilitation, the Net Zero Authority Stakeholder Group and the Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group.
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Roy Green is Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Adviser at the University of Technology Sydney, where he was previously Dean of the UTS Business School. He has undergraduate degrees from the University of Adelaide and a PhD in economics from the University of Cambridge. Roy has pursued a career in universities, government and industry and published widely on innovation and industrial policy, including with the OECD. Currently he chairs the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub and is on the boards of CSIRO, SmartSat CRC and the Industry Capability Network (ICN).
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Dr. John Kunkel is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, where his work focuses on economic security and Australia–US economic relations. He has worked across a diverse range of roles as an economist, speechwriter, policy analyst, and adviser to government and industry.
Dr. Kunkel brings extensive experience at the highest levels of Australian government and industry. He served as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Scott Morrison from August 2018 to May 2022, and earlier as speechwriter to Prime Minister John Howard from 2004 to 2007. His private sector career includes roles as Deputy CEO of the Minerals Council of Australia and Head of Government Relations, Australia for Rio Tinto.
Dr. Kunkel was a Fulbright Scholar to the United States, has a PhD from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from the University of Queensland.
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11.00-12.30
Panel 5 — How will emerging technologies such as AI impact global trade and how to embrace such technologies in trade policymaking?
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Anthony Wan is the founder of Clear.ai, an AI-native software company with a mission to accelerate freight.
Clear.ai allows freight forwarders and customs brokers to deploy industry-leading AI agents that save time and money.
Anthony believes the next generation of freight companies won't win by simply bolting software onto old processes. They'll rebuild how work flows through the business from the ground up. In that future, software takes care of the repetitive work; giving people more time to solve problems, serve customers, and grow the business.
Clear.ai exists to help every logistics company succeed in the AI era.
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Han-Wei Liu is Associate Professor of Law and Deputy Director of the Centre for Digital Law at Singapore Management University. His research focuses on law and technology, international economic law, and comparative law. He has served in the ASIL International Law and Technology Interest Group and the ILA Committee on Artificial Intelligence and International Law. He holds visiting and adjunct positions at Melbourne, Monash, and National Taiwan University, and editorial roles at the Journal of World Trade, Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs, Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, and European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance.
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Professor David Widdowson heads the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He is the Head of Customs Studies at Wisetech Academy, the founder and president of the International Network of Customs Universities, founder and Editor-in-Chief of the World Customs Journal, a member of the World Customs Organization’s Partnership in Customs Academic Research & Development, a member of the Scientific Board of the World Customs Organization, and a member of the Australian National Committee on Trade Facilitation.
David holds a PhD in Customs Management and has over 45 years’ experience in international trade regulation, including 21 years with the Australian Customs Service. In 2019 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to higher education in the field of international trade and customs. His research areas include Trade Facilitation, Regulatory Compliance Management, Risk Management and Supply Chain Security.
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1.30-3.00
Panel 6 — Will great power competition derail green trade?
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Program Director, International Strategy, Partnerships and Engagement
Joanna Kay has nearly two decades of experience across the public and private sectors in Australia, China, and India, specialising in energy policy, sustainable development, and international collaboration. Prior to joining The Superpower Institute, she served as Executive General Manager at the Smart Energy Council and as the Australian Government’s Specialist Advisor to the International Solar Alliance in Delhi.
Joanna was a board member at the Institute of Sustainability, Energy and Resources at Adelaide University and contributed to advancing global research in sustainability and energy management. She has been instrumental in shaping Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy and has served on the Advisory Board for the Scaling Green Hydrogen Cooperative Research Centre. She is currently an advisor to the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in Trade and Environment at the University of Adelaide.
Joanna is pursuing an MBA (Research) at the University of New England and has completed postgraduate study at Harvard University and executive programs at Yale School of Management. She mentors emerging leaders through the Paris Collaborative Global Fellowship program and focuses on enabling next-generation, high-impact solutions for a net-zero economy.
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Namali Mackay is a former Australian trade diplomat. While posted to the Australian High Commission in London, Namali served as a trade negotiator covering the trade, industry, resource and climate portfolios. She went on to lead the critical minerals agenda for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) in London, working with UK and Australian stakeholders on behalf of the Australian Government. Following Brexit, she was appointed Trade Advisor to Make UK, the UK's largest manufacturing industry body, advising British manufacturers on supply chain and trade strategy through the Brexit transition. She also served as Group Head of International Relations at Prudential plc in London, managing the group's trade and international agenda across the ASEAN region.
Today, Namali is the Managing Director of the Critical Minerals Association Australia (CMAA), having founded the organisation in 2022.
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Lisa is a Professor of Law at the UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice and a founding member of CIBEL. Her research focusses primarily on the sociolegal dimensions of international trade law and dispute resolution. She is an alumna of the Fulbright program, as the awardee of a senior fellowship sponsored by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Prior to academia, Lisa practised commercial law in Australia at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and in Vietnam at Baker & McKenzie, where she developed expertise in WTO law, dispute resolution, and general commercial practice. She has worked across East, Southeast, and Central Asia funded by the Australian, US and Canadian governments and with international donors such as the Asian Development Bank.
3.30-5.30
Panel 7 — Does a new era of global trade require new approaches to risk management?
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George Riddell is Managing Director, Goyder Ltd and Senior Adviser, Flint Global.
George is a leading expert in international trade policy with extensive experience advising businesses on the challenges and opportunities created by global trade. He helps clients understand the implications of shifting trade dynamics, manage geopolitical risks, and develop strategies to strengthen their supply chains and capitalise on new market opportunities.
Before joining the private sector, George represented the UK in trade negotiations at the WTO, OECD and G7, and served as a Special Advisor to the Kenyan government during the WTO’s Tenth Ministerial Conference. He has since led trade policy teams at two major consulting firms and worked with over 100 companies to develop sustainable supply chains and comply with new regulations, including the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the EU Deforestation Regulation.
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Dr Yann Duval is the Chief of Trade Policy and Facilitation at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) where he has been instrumental in enhancing trade policy and facilitation across Asia and the Pacific. His work includes spearheading the development of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), the ESCAP-World Bank Trade Cost Database, and the UN Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation. Duval has also been involved in the negotiation of a new intergovernmental Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, adopted as a UN treaty in 2016. His contributions have significantly impacted the trade landscape in the region, making him a key figure in the field of trade policy and facilitation.
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Dr Merriden Varrall is a geopolitical strategist and Founder and CEO of vantage geopol, where she helps organisations understand and navigate an increasingly complex global environment. She spent seven years at KPMG Australia, most recently as Lead Partner for Geopolitics, advising businesses on how shifting international dynamics affect their strategy, risk and opportunities. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Lowy Institute, having previously served as Director of the Institute's East Asia Program from 2014 to 2018, and an Associate Director at ACITI.
Merriden's expertise is grounded in nearly a decade spent living and working in China, including time as a senior UN diplomat with the United Nations Development Programme, where she focused on China's international development cooperation policy, and as a lecturer in foreign policy at the China Foreign Affairs University. Earlier in her career she held policy roles with the Australian Government Treasury and the Department of Family and Community Services. She holds a PhD examining Chinese foreign policy from Macquarie University and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, a Master's degree in International Affairs from the Australian National University, and an undergraduate degree in international studies from the University of Technology Sydney.
A sought-after commentator on geopolitics, East Asia and Australia's relationship with China, Merriden's analysis has featured in leading outlets including The New York Times, Nikkei Asian Review, Foreign Policy and the East Asia Forum. She is known for translating complex geopolitical shifts into practical, business-relevant insight, making her a compelling voice for audiences navigating today's fast-changing global trade and policy landscape.
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Stephen Walters (B. Ec, M. App Fin, GAICD) is the Principal and Chief Economist of Optimal Economics Pty Ltd based in Sydney.
He previously served as the Chief Economist for the Business Council of Australia (BCA) and was Chief Economist of NSW. With extensive experience in economic research and modelling, Stephen also worked as Chief Economist with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and spent 14 years as Chief Economist for investment bank J.P. Morgan. Additionally, he was a Senior Economist with Access Economics in Melbourne and an International Economist with Norwich Union and Alliance Capital in the United Kingdom. His career includes seven years as an Economist with the Treasury in Perth.
Stephen holds a Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Western Australia and a Master's degree in applied finance from the University of Melbourne. He possesses qualifications in journalism and graduated from the AICD's Company Directors Course in 2017.
Stephen has published three books, with a fourth to be published soon. Stephen is consultant chief economist for Keys Thomas Associates, associate director of the Australian Centre for International Trade and Investment (ACITI) and is an economic advisor to the Sydney Investment Professionals Business Network (SIPBN). He is a former chairman of the Australian Business Economists (ABE).
VENUE
UNSW CBD CAMPUS,
SYDNEY
Right in the heart of the city, a short walk from Sydney’s legal, banking and government precincts.
LOCATION
UNSW CBD CAMPUS, Level 4/210 George St, Sydney, NSW, 2000
DATES
Thursday 22 - Friday 23 October 2026
DAY 1 HOURS
9.00am - 5.30pm
DAY 2 HOURS
9.00am to 5.30pm
REGISTRATION
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after 25 SEPT
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