Tony Milner is an historian specializing on Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, and on regional relations. After having been a member of the Department Of History in the Faculty of Arts at ANU, and the Director of the Academy of the Social Sciences project on 'Australian-Asian Perceptions', he also became increasingly involved in research and Track II activity related to Australian engagement in the Asian region. He was Dean of Asian Studies 1996-2005, and has held visiting appointments at The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the National University of Singapore, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Kyoto University, Humboldt University, the National University of Malaysia, the University of Malaya and the Institute for Strategic and Intermational Studies (Malaysia).

Career highlights

Director, Australia-Asia Perceptions Project of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (1991-1994); Basham Professor of Asian History, ANU (1994-2013); Dean of Asian Studies (1996-2005); Research Chair, Australian Institute of International Affairs (1986-1992); Panel Member, Australian Research Council (1993-1997); Member of the Commonwealth Government's Foreign Affairs Council (1998-); Member of the Council of the ANU (2000-2002); Co-Convenor, 'Asialink Conversations' (2001-); Co-Chair of the Australian Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (2002-); Member of the Executive Committee of the Australia Thailand Institute (2005-2008); Member of the Executive Committee of the Australia Malaysia Institute (2005-); Member of the Board of Asialink (2006-); Member of the Board of the AustralAsia Centre of The Asia Society (2008-2012); Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne (2008-); Tun Hussein Onn Chair, Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia (2014-2015); Visiting Professor, University of Malaya (2016-).

Tony Milner's research has focussed, first, on the history of ideas and political culture in the 'Malay World' – and he has been particularly interested in the ways in which the historian can draw upon other disciplines (such as Anthropology and Literary Criticism) in researching such topics. Secondly, he has been concerned to analyse the role of values and cultural perceptions in Asian regional relations.