Meg Keen joined the Crawford School of Public Policy in 2018 to take up the position of Director, Australia Pacific Security College. She leads a program of professional education, technical assistance, and collaboration aimed at strengthening responses to security challenges in the Pacific islands region. Her current research is focused on regional security policy, Pacific human and environmental security (particularly rapid urbanisation, sustainable settlements, informal economies and ocean governance), resilience, effective learning and knowledge brokering. Past research topics include urbanisation in Melanesia, informal economies and ocean governance.

Prior to taking up the directorship of PSC, Meg was a Senior Policy Fellow in the Department of Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific (2015-18), the coordinator for the departmental research cluster on Pacific island resilience and security; the lead on the Urbanisation in Melanesia research program (2015-19); and the Bell School Director of Research (2017-18). Meg received an award for outstanding contribution to student learning for her leadership of the inaugural New Colombo Plan field school on regional policy making in Suva, Fiji (2018).

Meg has experience as an academic, security analyst, policy maker, and consultant. For ten years (2005-15) she was a senior analyst in the Oceania Branch of the Office of National Assessment (now Office of National Intelligence), and a senior policy adviser in the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (2011-12). Her work as a senior analyst received four Australia Day Awards, and her work with RAMSI received a Police Overseas Service Medal from the Australia Federal Police. She has also worked on resource management in the Pacific islands as a consultant and a senior officer in government.

Prior to her government work, Meg was a senior lecturer in the Graduate Program for Environmental Management and Development (EMD) at the National Centre for Development Studies (now Crawford School of Public Policy). She has worked on research projects across the Asia-Pacific, including most Pacific island countries. Meg has also taught graduate courses in Pacific security, Pacific regional governance, resource decision-making and policy, environmental economics, human ecology and graduate research methodologies. She has extensive experience supervising Masters and PhD students.

Other academic appointments include lecturer Human Ecology, ANU and lecturer Environmental Sciences, Monash University.