Photo by Zukiman Mohamad
Over fifteen months in 2024-2026, we delivered a pilot academic and enrichment leadership program for an eminent foreign policy leader from Malaysia on behalf of the Australian Government.
The Challenge
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) engaged Strategic to deliver the pilot for the Southeast Asia Leadership Program, an invitation-only academic and on-award leadership enrichment program for leaders in Southeast Asia.
This was a pilot initiative, designed to test and trial diverse approaches, personalised approaches to leadership development and engagement, while consciously capturing lessons learned along the way to inform the future program.
The Solution
Strategic designed and delivered the pilot Southeast Asia Leadership Program to provide targeted invitation-only academic opportunities, alongside leadership and foreign policy engagement opportunities. We worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Ms Hamid, the inaugural scholar, Australian National University (ANU) as the academic host institution, and some of Australia’s best think tanks to deliver unique opportunities for networking, track 2 diplomacy opportunities, tailored to the program objectives to deepen strong and enduring partnerships between Australia and the Southeast Asian region.
THE OUTCOME
The pilot program attracted one of Southeast Asia’s most influential diplomats, Ms Murni Abdul Hamid. She has completed a successful year with confirmation of her PhD candidature, alongside a series of bespoke on award leadership enrichment opportunities, building networks with the ecosystem of Australian influential foreign policy thinktanks navigating contemporary geopolitics, including the Lowy Institute, Asia Society, AsiaLink and the United States Studies Centre, alongside some of Australia’s leading academic researchers in the region at ANU, La Trobe, University of Sydney, RMIT and University of Melbourne.
As a career diplomat, Ms Hamid is highly positive about her experience. The opportunity to reflect as a practitioner on the longer-term dynamics and trends in foreign policy and geopolitics in Southeast Asia is a highly valued one. Alongside her academic program, she is keen to connect and share her expertise and perspectives, and collaborate with institutions in Australia and Malaysia on shared challenges faced by the region.
This pilot program has established strong foundations for personalised and long-term institutional relationships between Malaysia and Australian academics, policy makers and think tanks.
Strategic will continue to work with DFAT on building strong and enduring people-to-people linkages across the region.
