Dr David Brewster is a Senior Research Fellow with the National Security College, Australian National University where he works on Indian Ocean and Indo Pacific maritime security.   

He is also a Distinguished Research Fellow with the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne.  

He is a frequent speaker at international security conferences throughout the region and is as an Australian delegate to several major 1.5 Track security and defence dialogues.

Dr Brewster is a frequent writer about security developments in the Indian Ocean and Indo Pacific for numerous publications.

Dr Brewster’s books include India as an Asia Pacific power, about India’s strategic role in the Asia Pacific and India’s Ocean: the story of India’s bid for regional leadership which examines India’s strategic ambitions in the Indian Ocean.  

His latest edited volume is India and China at Sea: Competition for Naval Dominance in the Indian Ocean, which addresses Indian and Chinese perspectives about their roles in the Indian Ocean and their evolving naval strategies towards each other.  

He contributed a chapter to Strategic Asia 2019 titled The Red Flag Follows Trade: China’s Future as an Indian Ocean Power.  Dr Brewster is also the author of a major new report, Australia’s Second Sea: Facing our Multipolar Future in the Indian Ocean, which proposes a new roadmap for Australia’s strategic engagement in the Indian Ocean.