Researcher Summary
Alex Tan is Head of Department and Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, Honorary Professor of the NZ Defence Force Command and Staff College, Associate Director of the NZ Contemporary China Research Centre, Fellow of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies (Dallas, Texas, USA), and University Chair Professor of Political Science (adjunct) at National Chengchi University (Taiwan). Alex was appointed by the NZ Minister of Foreign Affairs as a member of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC) for 2019-2021. He is recipient of many teaching awards including the University Lecturer of the Year (2014), College of Arts (CoA) Lecturer of the Year (2014, 2017), CoA Teaching Excellence Award (2015), finalist for CoA Lecturer of the Year (2013, 2019). He received his PhD (Political Science) from Texas A&M University, MA (Economics) from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and AB (Economics) from the Ateneo de Manila. Before joining Canterbury, he was tenured associate professor at the University of North Texas, postdoctoral fellow at the Southern Methodist University (Dallas), banker with HSBC, and research fellow at Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. He was visiting scholar at universities in the USA, UK, Germany, Japan, and Taiwan and represented NZ in international Track II security and economic dialogues. Alex is editorial board member of prominent international academic journals such as Political Behavior, Political Science, Asian Survey, Issues and Studies, Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs. He writes extensively in the areas of political parties and elections, political economy, Asian politics and international affairs.
