Liam traces his journey in Asian Studies to a childhood spent in Kathmandu, where his parents worked in international development, and he attended an international school. Returning to Australia for high school, he enrolled in Asian Studies at UWA in the late 1990s. Initially intending to study Hindi, he instead took Indonesian – almost by accident – and became deeply committed after an immersive semester in Yogyakarta with ACICIS. Liam reflects on how literature and film, from Christopher Koch’s The Year of Living Dangerously to Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s The Mute’s Soliloquy and Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentaries, shaped his engagement with Indonesian history, particularly the contested memory of 1965–66. Professionally, Liam has worked with ACICIS for over a decade, serving as its Consortium Director since 2018. He has overseen the programme’s dramatic growth, particularly under the New Colombo Plan, and advocates tirelessly for the preservation of space for Asian Studies and in-country learning within Australian universities. A contributor to Asian Currents and ASAA reports, he values the Association as a national peak body for advocacy and coalition-building. Liam argues that Asian Studies must remain organised, relevant, and reflective – while resisting insularity – and is energised by the new opportunities for cultural exchange in an era of unprecedented connectivity between Australia and Asia. 

Watch Liam’s interview below or on the ASAA’s youtube channel here. See the other interviews in the series here.