Keynote speakers
Andhyta (Afu) Firselly
Afu is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Think Policy, an ecosystem-oriented advisory based in Indonesia. Think Policy supports government reforms through interdisciplinary implementation support, capacity building, and public engagement, collaborating with 200+ partners, 3,000+ alumni, and a 100K-strong online community, including through the Bijak political education platform. An environmental economist with 10+ years of experience in land and energy policy, Afu previously worked at the World Bank and WRI, contributing to the CCDR and Climate Watch, and supported Indonesia’s Ministry of Education in integrating climate issues into the K–12 curriculum. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Dr Anoulak Kittikhoun
Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Mekong River Commission (MRC). Under his leadership, the MRC put in place new initiatives for monitoring the Mekong, brokered agreements on transboundary environmental impact guidelines and dam data sharing, established joint cooperation mechanisms between Mekong countries and China, and strengthened Mekong-global partnerships. With a BA from the Australian National University and PhD from the City University of New York, Dr. Kittikhoun is co-author of River Basin Organisations in Water Diplomacy and Small Countries, Big Diplomacy. He will be a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy from May 2025.
Dame Meg Taylor
Dame Meg Taylor is a distinguished Papua New Guinean lawyer and diplomat. Her career spans many decades, including serving as Private Secretary to Papua New Guinea’s first Prime Minister, Ambassador of Papua New Guinea to the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and founding Vice President of the Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman at the World Bank Group. From 2014 to 2021, she was the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the first woman to serve in this prestigious role. During her tenure at the Forum, Dame Meg was a passionate advocate for regional self-determination and human security and greater public participation in regional policy making. Dame Meg continues to advocate for strong Pacific leadership, empowerment of women and youth and a sustainable future for the Pacific through her roles on the Board of the PNG Sustainable Development Program, as Chair of The Voice Inc., and member of the Pacific Elders Voice, among others.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Distinguished Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith is an internationally recognised scholar who has significantly influenced the field of Māori education and health. Known as the Mother of Indigenous Studies, her groundbreaking book Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples remains a seminal work in the field. Professor Tuhiwai Smith has held numerous leadership positions, including the founding Co-Director of the Māori Centre of Research Excellence, Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori, and Dean of the School of Māori and Pacific Development at the University of Waikato. She is a long serving member of the Council of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, an indigenous tertiary provider in New Zealand, and is currently the co-Deputy Chairperson. She is a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in Education.
Salmah Lawrence
Dr Salmah Eva-Lina Lawrence is a transformation strategist. She works to decolonise international development through her roles in executive management and governance. In her scholarly life she researches decolonial ethics, epistemology and feminism drawing from the ethics and epistemologies of her own Papua New Guinean and matrilineal culture within a broader Oceanic / Pasifika culture. These multiple lenses position her to generate theory from practice, contribute to scholarly dialogue, and bridge the divide between academia and civil society praxis. She has been director of risk management advisory practices for Deloitte & Touche in London, New York and Sydney and she has worked for United Nation's agencies including in Afghanistan and Bhutan. She offers a podcast-based course titled Conceptualising Decolonisation for Development. Her publications can be found at www.drsalmah.com Salmah is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Culture, History & Language at the ANU and sits on the board for WaterAid Australia.
Jaki Adams
Jaki was born and raised in Garamilla (Darwin) on the beautiful lands of Larrakia Nation. Jaki is a proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman, with ancestral links to the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi Peoples of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, traditional family ties with the Gurindji and Kungarakan Peoples of the Northern Territory and extended family ties across the Torres Straits and Warlpiri (Yuendumu NT). Jaki is a Global Atlantic Fellow, a worthy recipient of the ACFID Outstanding Contribution to the Sector Award and has over 30 years’ experience in government and non-government/international development sectors. Jaki recently joined the Lowitja Institute (Australia’s only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health research institute) as the Executive Manager Research and Knowledge Translation.
Joanna Choe
Jo Choe has over 20 years’ experience supporting and implementing international development assistance, including almost a decade living and working in the Pacific. She is the Managing Director of DT Global Asia Pacific, one of the largest implementing partners for the Australian international development program. DT Global implements over 35 development programs across the Asia Pacific on behalf of DFAT, MFAT and the ADB. Jo is the Deputy Chair of the International Development Contractors Community Board, the peak body for contractors and consultants that work to deliver Australian international development assistance. She has been a member of the Board since the IDCC’s inception in 2018. Prior to joining DT Global in 2018, Jo spent 15 years managing development assistance in DFAT including leading Australia’s development programs to Fiji and Tuvalu, Australia’s response to Tropical Cyclone Winston in Fiji and leading law and justice and subnational governance programs in Papua New Guinea.
Matthew Maury
Matthew Maury is the CEO for ACFID, stepping into the role after 16 years as the CEO of Tearfund Australia. Matthew has over 30 years of experience working with relief and development organisations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. He has also had a long history of involvement with the work of ACFID, including serving on the ACFID board for 10 years (including as Vice President) and 10 years as the co-Chair of the Development Practice Committee. Matthew led as the Inaugural Chair of the Emergency Action Alliance and has served on the Board of Micah Australia and Make Poverty History.
Shirin Malekpour
Associate Professor Shirin Malekpour is Director is Graduate Research at Monash Sustainable Development Institute. As a social scientist, her work is dedicated to improving strategic planning and governance for sustainable development. She has led programs on localising the Sustainable Development Goals in partnership with governments, international organisations and NGOs. Shirin was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as one of the 15 members of the Independent Group of Scientists to draft the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report. She has been recognised as one of the top 25 young scientists globally in the field of sustainable development and received the international Green Talents award. Prior to academia, she worked in infrastructure projects in Africa and the Middle East.
Robin Davies
Robin Davies is an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre, at the Crawford School of Public Policy. He has over two decades of senior leadership experience in international development, having served at the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and as head of the Global Health Division and Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). At AusAID, Robin held executive roles including head of the International Programs and Partnerships Division and managed Australia’s aid program in Indonesia, where he led the humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. He was Australia’s first permanent representative to the OECD Development Assistance Committee and has represented Australia on the boards of the UN World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Robin has also contributed to global policy as Australia’s representative on the G20 Development Working Group and played a key role in shaping international climate and development finance initiatives. Currently, Robin serves on the boards of the Burnet Institute, the Global Health Security Network, Femili PNG Australia and Impact Global Health. He also chairs the international programs committee of the board of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Australian Global Health Alliance. He previously served on the board of UNICEF Australia, chairing its Programs, Policy and Advocacy Committee. His research interests include development financing, global public goods, and aid policy, and he is a co-editor of the book Too Global to Fail: The World Bank at the Intersection of National and Global Public Policy in 2025.
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