Bec Strating

Bec Strating is the Director of La Trobe Asia 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. 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. She is the co-editor of Blue Security in the Indo-Pacific' (Routledge, 2024) and The Politics of Global Ocean Regions (Palgrave, 2025, forthcoming). Bec has also written three sole-authored books, most recently Defending the Maritime Rules-Based Order (2020), co-edited two special journal issues and one book (Australia on the World Stage, 2022) and written multiple journal articles and book chapters, most recently in Q1-ranked journals Contemporary Security Policy, Marine Policy, Pacific Review and Australian Journal of International Affairs. Bec leads or has led over 20 externally funded research collaborations worth close to $3 million. She currently leads the DFAT-funded ‘Blue Security’ network focused on maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific.