Dr Julien Barbara joined SSGM in July 2013 as a Research Fellow. He has a professional background in international relations and development and for most of the period since 2000 has worked in various policy roles in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). From 2010 to 2012 Julien was seconded to the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) where he managed the Machinery of Government Program. Julien completed his PhD in 2001 in the Department of Management at the University of Melbourne.
Julien’s research examines post-conflict state-building and the evolving nature of development partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on democracy and governance issues. He is interested in how donors can support positive processes of state-building, particularly in the context of recent development transitions in Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste where development relationships have moved from interventionary to partnership modes, and where prospects for effective partnership are complicated by ongoing processes of state formation, fluid politics, economic vulnerability and aid dependency.
