Dr Ben Czapnik has twenty years of experience working on international trade law and policy as both a practitioner and academic.

 He served with DFAT as a trade negotiator and lawyer, including on a diplomatic posting to Australia's WTO mission in Geneva. He has also served with the United Nations and Pacific Islands Forum as a trade policy expert providing advice and technical assistance to developing countries, including in the South Pacific, East Africa, Caribbean and Asia, 

 Ben's expertise cuts across a wide range of international trade topics, including geopolitics and the nature of the WTO system, WTO accessions, dispute settlement, trade negotiations, goods trade (tariff schedules, rules of origin, safeguards, anti-dumping), subsidies and fisheries subsidies, regional integration and trade facilitation. 

 Ben has a PhD in international trade law from the University of Birmingham and currently works as a Lecturer at Monash University's Faculty of Law where he researches how international trade rules interact with other social policy goals, such as environmental, health and moral goals. He previously undertook postdoctoral fellowships at the National University of Singapore and Chinese University of Hong Kong where he researched China's trade relations, including its trade tensions with the US, Australia and other countries. His research has been published in leading peer reviewed journals, including the European Journal of International Law and Journal of International Economic Law. 

 Ben is a Global Fellow at the Centre of International Law (NUS) and an Advisor to Animal Policy International. He has a law degree from the University of Melbourne and is admitted to practice law in Victoria.