Professor Bec Strating
Bec Strating is the director of the La Trobe Centre for Global Security and a Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne.
She has extensive experience working in the academia-policy-public engagement nexus in the fields of international diplomacy and security. She is currently the Australian Member Committee co-chair of the Council on Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific and serves as an Australian representative in the Expert and Eminent Persons Grouping in the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Bec was director of La Trobe Asia from 2020 to 2025. Her research focuses primarily on Asian regional security, maritime disputes, and Australian foreign and defence policy.
She is the author of ‘Girt by Sea: reimagining Australia’s Security’ with Professor Joanne Wallis (La Trobe University Press/Black Inc, 2024), which was launched by Foreign Minister Penny Wong in April 2024.
Among her other publications, Bec is the co-editor of 'Blue Security in the Indo-Pacific' (Routledge, 2024) and 'The Politics of Global Ocean Regions' (Palgrave, 2025). She currently leads the DFAT-funded “Blue Security” network focused on maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific.