PhD and Postdoctoral Collaborators
Conrad Buffier
Research topic: Climate Policy Upscaling. PhD Committee Chair.
Roland Wilson Scholar. Conrad is a Director in the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Over his 16 year career in the Australian Public Service, Conrad has contributed to the development of Australia’s former Carbon Pricing Mechanism, transport and industrial mitigation sector policy, carbon offset credit accounting methodologies, frameworks to support Australia’s participation in the Clean Development Mechanism, and independent reviews of Australia’s climate policy landscape. Through his PhD research at the Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy, Conrad is examining factors that support upscaling the stringency of countries’ climate change mitigation policy instruments. During his PhD candidature, Conrad has represented The Australian National University at the 2024 Raisina-IE Global Student Challenge in India, and contributed as an author to the World Bank’s 2024 State and Trends of Carbon Pricing Report. Learn more here.
Jane Kuang
Research Topic - The Impact of Company Ownership on Chinese Overseas Investment in the Mining Industry. PhD Committee Chair.
Jane joined the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy as a PhD candidate in 2018. Aside from her university work Jane is Head of Decision Evaluation at BHP, and she is completing her doctoral studies on a part-time basis. The goal of Jane’s thesis is to understand, explain and empirically test how the ownership form influences overseas mining investment decisions by Chinese companies and how this impacts socio-economic and investment outcomes in the mining sector.
Hannah Lord
Research topic: The Political Economy of Power Trading in Southeast Asia. PhD Committee Member.
Roland Wilson Scholar. Hannah joined the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance as a PhD candidate in 2021. Prior to starting her research, Hannah spent a decade with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) working on international climate change policy and as a diplomat in Laos. Hannah’s research focuses on the governance of the energy transition in Southeast Asia. She is taking a case study approach to examining cross-border trade in electricity in Southeast Asia. While electricity trade can support uptake of renewables, progress towards an ASEAN Power Grid has been incremental and faces a complex set of political and economic barriers. Through her research, Hannah hopes to develop a better understanding of the factors supporting successful trading relationships, so as to inform regional diplomacy and technical assistance programs that can accelerate the integration of renewables.
Former PhD students:
2020-2024. Hang Deng. College for Business & Economics, Australian National University. Thesis title: “Climate Risks, Environmental Regulations, and Corporate Environmental Management”. Associate Supervisor. Placement: World Bank.
2014-2017. Kenneth Vincent. Department of Political Science, George Washington University. Thesis title: “The Strategic Determinants of Oil Stockpiling Behavior”. Associate Supervisor. Placement: US Department of Energy.
2014-2017. Gail Ma. College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. Thesis title: “Beyond Vulnerability: Explaining State Intervention in Oil Supply in the Asia-Pacific”. Associate Supervisor. Placement: City of Honolulu.
2013-2015. Inwook Kim. Department of Political Science, George Washington University. Thesis title: “Crude Security: Oil, Armament, and Alliance”. Associate Supervisor. Placement: Tenure Track Assistant Professor. Singapore Management University.