Rebecca (Bec) Strating is the Director of La Trobe Asia and an Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne.

She received her PhD from Monash University in 2013. Her research focuses on maritime disputes in Asia and Australian foreign and defence policy. Since then, she has written three sole-authored books, most recently Defending the Maritime Rules-Based Order (2020), has co-edited special journal issues and one book (Australia on the World Stage, 2022), and written multiple journal articles and book chapters. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Boyer Prize by the Australian Institute of International Affairs for best article published in the Australian Journal of International Affairs.

She is the program lead for the DFAT-funded “Blue Security” network focused on maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific. She is currently a non-visiting fellow at the Royal Australian Navy’s Seapower Centre, a member of the East West Centre Council on Indo-Pacific Relations, and incoming chair of the Women in International Security Australia’s steering committee. She is on the editorial boards of the Australian Journal of International Affairs and Journal of Maritime and Territorial Studies.

Professor Strating has been an Asian Studies Visiting Fellow at East West Center in Washington DC, visiting affiliate fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, affiliated researcher at Georgetown University and a non-visiting fellow at the Perth US Asia Centre.

She writes commentary pieces for organisations such as Lowy Institute, War on the Rocks, Nikkei Asia, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, The Conversation, East Asia Forum, New Mandela, Asia Global Online, Nine-dash line, and Australian Outlook. She regularly provides comment to media including the ABC, the BBC, Asia News Channel, SCMP, Washington Post, the Australian and Sydney Morning Herald.