Dr. Adam Bartley
Details
Department: Research & Innovation
Campus: City Campus Australia
adam.bartley@rmit.edu.au
ORCID: 0000-0002-6938-081X
Open to
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
About
Dr Adam Bartley is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at RMIT University’s Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation, specialising in international relations, security studies, and the geopolitical implications of emerging technologies. His research focuses on great power competition, particularly US–China rivalry, artificial intelligence governance, and minilateral security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
Dr Bartley has published widely across academic and policy-oriented outlets. His work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes addressing China’s political system, AI strategy, and global security dynamics, as well as policy reports and commissioned research supported by institutions such as the Australian Department of Defence and Army Research Centre. His scholarly contributions include articles on Chinese authoritarian governance, US–China strategic competition, and technology-driven security challenges, alongside book chapters examining artificial intelligence, defence innovation, and regional strategic alignment. Dr Bartley is also the author or Perceptions of China and White House Decision-Making, 1941–1963: Spears of Promise, Shields of Truth (Routledge, 2020), which examines the role of threat perception in shaping early US China policy, and co-author of US Foreign Policy and China: Security Challenges in the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), which analyses the evolution of US strategic approaches to China in the post-Cold War era.
In addition to academic publishing, Dr Bartley is an active contributor to policy and public-facing discourse. He has written extensively for Australian Institute of International Affairs’s Australian Outlook as weekly columnist for The Week in Australian Foreign Affairs, and has contributed to broader debates on international affairs, emerging technologies, and Indo-Pacific security across platforms such as ASPI Strategist, Lowy Interpreter, the Diplomat, South China Morning Post, the Conversation, and the Policy Forum.
Dr Bartley is a Fulbright Scholar and has held a residency at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where he further developed his research on global security and technological competition. He has also held fellowships at the Sigur Center for Asian Affairs and Pacific Forum, Hawaii. Dr Bartley is actively engaged in collaborative research initiatives, including work on trilateral cooperation between the United States, Australia, and Japan in the field of artificial intelligence and security policy. Across his academic and policy work, Dr Bartley’s research contributes to understanding how emerging technologies are reshaping strategic competition and international order, with a particular emphasis on the Indo-Pacific and the evolving role of middle powers in an era of systemic rivalry.
Teaching interests
Dr Adam Bartley has extensive experience in course coordination and lecturing across undergraduate and postgraduate programs in international relations and political science. His teaching practice integrates curriculum design, lecture delivery, and assessment development, with a strong emphasis on linking theoretical frameworks to contemporary geopolitical developments.
He has coordinated and delivered courses including Technology and Global Risk (current), Global Security Challenges, Contemporary Foreign Policy, International Relations in the Indo-Pacific, Authoritarian Empires: Russia, China and Eurasian Politics, Australian Foreign Policy, Political Economy, and Global Governance and International Law. His teaching spans core areas such as international security, global governance, and political economy, alongside specialised topics including US–China relations, authoritarian politics, and the strategic implications of emerging technologies.
At the postgraduate level, Dr Bartley has taught research design and supervised independent research projects, supporting students in developing advanced methodological and analytical capabilities. His teaching approach prioritises analytical rigour, policy relevance, and student engagement, drawing on real-world case studies and current strategic developments. His experience in course coordination includes responsibility for curriculum development, lecture delivery, and assessment design, fostering research-led and practice-oriented learning environments.
Research interests
Great power competition, US–China relations, Indo-Pacific security, International security, Emerging technologies, Artificial intelligence, Cyber security, Autonomous systems, Grey-zone conflict, Minilateralism, Technological sovereignty, Defence innovation, and Global governance.
