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).

Deborah Healey is a Professor at UNSW Law and a Director of the China International Business and Economic Law Centre.  Her research and teaching focus on competition law and policy in Australia, China, Hong Kong and the ASEAN nations. She has written widely on these over a long period of time. She is a regular visitor to China and ASEAN jurisdictions to research and teach. Within the area of competition law, she is particularly interested in the role of government in the market, both in Australia and internationally, and researches on Competitive Neutrality, Regulatory Impact Assessment and the roles and governance of SOEs; merger regulation; competition in banking and finance; and competition in the digital economy. Deborah has undertaken substantial research  in the development of the Anti-Monopoly Law of China against the background of its political economy and has written widely alone and with Chinese co-authors and in material translated into Chinese. She has consulted with, and completed research projects for, UNCTAD, OECD and ASEAN, She is a Non-Government Adviser to the International Competition Network and a member of the Law Council of Australia Competition Law Committee.

Deborah is also widely published in sports law, is a Life Member of the Australia and New Zealand Sport Law Association, and is Co-editor of the Australia and New Zealand Sport Law Journal. She has served as a director on the boards of  major sporting organisations for the last 25 years. She is a member of the National Sports Tribunal, a statutory forum for the resolution of disputes in sport.

She spent many years in commercial practice in Australia with large firms, is admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Federal Court of Australia and holds a current Practising Certificate.

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.

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.

Han-Wei Liu is Associate Professor of Law at Singapore Management University and Deputy Director of the Centre for Digital Law. His research examines the intersection of international economic law, technology governance, and geopolitics, with a focus on export controls, sanctions, semiconductor statecraft, supply-chain regulation, AI governance, and data flows. His recent work develops the concepts of ‘chokepoint economy’ and ‘hub economy’ governance to explain how states exercise, resist, or absorb regulatory power within global semiconductor supply chains, and the limits of extraterritorial technology controls. 

His scholarship appears or is forthcoming in top-rated journals including the International and Comparative Law Quarterly, international law journals associated with Harvard, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Georgetown, and Vanderbilt, Journal of International Economic Law, Journal of World Investment & Trade, and Journal of World Trade. He serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of World Trade and Book Review Editor of Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law & Affairs and sits on the Advisory Board of the European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance. He previously served as Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s International Law and Technology Interest Group and as the inaugural Deputy Lead of the Sub-Committee on Accountability and Cross-Border Governance of the International Law Association’s AI and Technology Law Committee. Before entering academia, he practiced in financial regulation and commercial dispute resolution at international law firms, including on matters connected to high-profile financial disputes such as the Lehman Brothers collapse.
 

Qualifications

• Ph.D., Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), Switzerland

• LL.M., Columbia University, USA

• M.Jur., Oxford University, UK

• LL.M., National Chengchi University, Taiwan

• LL.B., National Chengchi University, Taiwan

Namali Mackay is the Managing Director of the Critical Minerals Association Australia (CMAA), having founded the organisation in 2022.

Namali 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.

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.

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.