Our Team

Natalie Sambhi, Founder and Executive Director

Through her research and publications, Natalie Sambhi is committed to helping people gain a more nuanced understanding of Indonesian military affairs, Indonesian defence policy and Southeast Asian security. She is also a PhD scholar at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, the Australian National University, focussing on Indonesian military history. From 2016 to 2018, she was a Research Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre. From 2012 to 2016, she worked at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) as an Analyst and Managing Editor of ASPI's blog, The Strategist. She has previously worked at the Department of Defence and University of Canberra. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) (Hons) from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Arts (International Relations) and Master of Diplomacy from the Australian National University.

In January 2016 and in May 2014, Natalie was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington, DC where she researched Indonesian civil–military relations. Natalie has previously been involved with the Australian Institute of International Affairs ACT, having served on council; the US-based Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) as a host of the podcast series Sea Control: Asia Pacific; and Bloggingheads.tv as a host for their international relations segment Foreign Entanglements. Her writing has appeared in Security Challenges journal, War On The Rocks, The Diplomat, The Interpreter and The National Interest.