Prof David Mickler
Associate Professor - Dean Global, Africa, Curtin University
Bio
David Mickler is Dean Global, Africa and Founding Director, Centre for Australia-Africa Relations, in the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Global, and an Associate Professor of International Relations in the Faculty of Humanities, at Curtin University, Perth.
He is the Co-Chair of the flagship Australia Africa Universities Network (AAUN), and he convenes both the Emerging Leaders in Australia-Africa Diplomacy (ELAAD) program for AAUN and the Australia-Africa Literacy program for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Diplomatic Academy in Canberra.
A/Prof. Mickler is a Future Africa Visiting Fellow at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Organisation of African Communities in Western Australia (OACWA) and for the Africa Network of Critical Security Scholars (ANeCS).
He also serves as the Australian Representative to the Indian Ocean Rim Association Academic Group (IORAG) and convenes the annual IORA collaborative regional short course International Relations in the Indian Ocean Region at Curtin’s African campus in Mauritius. He is the Founder and Deputy Co-Chair of the IORA Indian Ocean University Network (UNIOR).
A/Prof. Mickler was previously Founding Director of the Africa Research & Engagement Centre (AfREC) at the University of Western Australia; Chair of the Faculty Africa Regional Strategy Group at the University of Melbourne; and Inaugural Co-Chair of the Global Africa Group in the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). He has also been a visiting scholar at Addis Ababa University and the African Union Commission, and has developed academic partnerships in several African countries, including the Africa Green Hydrogen Hub (AGHH) in Kenya.
His books include New Engagement: Contemporary Australian Foreign Policy Towards Africa (2013), The African Union: Addressing the Challenges of Peace, Security and Governance (2016), and Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals (2020). He is a Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council Discovery Project African Impact in Australia (2023-26) and Co-Editor on the book project Australia-Africa Science Diplomacy: Collaborative Research, Policy Impact and International Cooperation (under development).
A/Prof. Mickler works closely on Africa and Indian Ocean research, teaching, training and external engagement with a range of stakeholders in academia, government, industry and diaspora communities. In 2018 he won the Community Pillar (Excellence in Innovation) Award at the Western Australian African Community Awards; in 2023 he won the Global Award for Leadership at Curtin University; and in 2024 he won both the Friend of Zimbabwe Award at the national Australian Zimbabwe Achievers Awards (ZAA) and the Global Impact Award at the Curtin University Global Recognition Awards.