Graeme Smith, BSc (Hons), PhD (Sydney); BA (UNSW), PhD (ANU)

Australian Development Research Award (ADRA) Fellow, State Society & Governance in Melanesia Program, School of International, Political & Strategic Studies

Email: graeme.smith@anu.edu.au

Biographical statement

Dr Graeme Smith joined Political and Social Change (PSC) as a Visiting Fellow in July 2009. Formerly a doctoral student in the Contemporary China Centre, Graeme is now engaged as a postdoctoral research fellow at the China Research Centre at the University of Technology, Sydney. His main research interests are state-society interactions in China, the political economy of local government, and the impact of Asian resource investment in the Pacific. Graeme has authored several book chapters, as well as articles in The China Journal and The China Quarterly. His current research project examines the challenges faced by the Ramu nickel/cobalt mine in Papua New Guinea, where he will finally have the occasion to use his doctorate in inorganic chemistry. Due to commence full production in 2010, the mine is the most prominent element of a wave of mainland Chinese investment, with more than 40 Chinese companies recently signing an agreement with PNG government officials to establish an industrial park, involving investment by state-owned enterprises and private corporations in fisheries, forestry and agriculture projects. This Ausaid-funded study will be the first to combine expertise on comparative perspectives on Chinese global aid and development and Pacific Island regional development issues (Paul D'Arcy, School of Culture, History and Language), with in-depth knowledge of Papua New Guinea development and governance perspectives (Sinclair Dinnen, SSGM), with Graeme's knowledge of Chinese development and governance issues.

Research interests

Contemporary Chinese policy-making, state–society interactions, rural politics, bureaucratic contestation, resource projects, supply chains, and agribusiness.

Key publications

• 'Franchising the State: Farmers, Agricultural Technicians and the Marketisation of Agricultural Services' in Bjoern Alpermann (ed.), Politics and Markets in Rural China. (London: Routledge, Forthcoming 2009).
• 'Political Machinations in a Rural County', The China Journal. No. 62, July 2009, pp. 29-59.
• The Political Economy of Agricultural Extension in Rural Anhui, China. ANU PhD dissertation (2008).
• Co-editor(with Andrew Kipnis), a special journal issue on Rural Governance in the Midst of Underfunding, Deception, and Mistrust, a translation of Zhao Shukai's research in Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Winter 2006/2007).
• 'Structural Limits on the Delivery of Agricultural Extension Services in Rural China', Village Self-Governance in China: Past, Present and Future. Beijing: EU-China Training Programme on Village Governance (2006).
• A Matter of Trust: The Organic Food Market in China. (Sydney: UNSW, 2002).

Career highlights

Appointment as a research associate at the ANU (2007), lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of NSW (1999-2004), visiting scholar at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University (2001), research tutor in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Sydney (1991-1996); various academic awards, including (with Prof. Jonathan Unger) ARC Discovery Grant (2007), WJ Liu Esq Memorial Prize (2001), UNSW-Tsinghua Scholarship (2001), Chinese Government Scholarship (1998-1999); founding president, China Research and Postgraduate Club, ANU (2003-2004).