Dr Jack Butcher

I am an Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Society and Culture at Adelaide University. My research focuses on the international relations and security of East Asia and the Western Pacific. My expertise incorporates international relations, foreign policy analysis, and area studies in an attempt to explain the region's patterns and practices of international relations and security.

My doctoral thesis, Pactomania 2.0: Analysing the growth of strategic partnerships in East Asia in the post-Cold War era, examined the strategic partnership diplomacy of the US, China, Japan, ASEAN, and Australia from 2006 to 2023.

I have authored and co-edited various journal articles, books, and policy commentary pieces. I have recent publications in the Australian Journal of International Affairs, with Palgrave Macmillan, and the Australian Journal of Politics and History. I have also contributed analyses to the Lowy Institute and Young Australians in International Affairs. I was recently quoted in news commentary on China-Vietnam relations with Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asia.

I was appointed as one of the inaugural Japan-Australia Dialogue and Exchange (JADE) fellows by the Japan Foundation and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney from 2024-2025. I was also the Indo-Pacific Fellow at Young Australians in International Affairs and recognised by the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) as an emerging expert on Korea. I have recently been selected as a Taiwan-Maritime GENIE participant by the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS).

Before beginning my PhD, I lived, worked and studied in China for several years, mainly employed in media, translation and teaching. I graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Master of International Security and a Bachelor of International Studies with a minor in Chinese studies. During my undergraduate years, I received scholarships from Westpac Group, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Hanban to study at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Sichuan University in Chengdu.

I speak English, Chinese and Japanese, which I actively use in my research. I also have limited working proficiency in Korean and Spanish.