Dr Peter Van Ness

Peter Van Ness is a visiting fellow in the Department of International Relations in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the ANU. For many years a member of the faculty at the Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver in the US, Van Ness is a specialist on Chinese foreign policy and the international relations of the Asia-Pacific region. He first went to the PRC in 1972, and he has served as a member of the board of directors of both the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Human Rights in China organization. Awarded grants from SSRC and ACLS and two Fulbright fellowships to Japan, he has taught at four Japanese universities, including Keio University and the University of Tokyo. He has been a research fellow at the ANU, the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, and the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei. Since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, he has been working with a group of physical scientists and social scientists on a critical analysis of nuclear power in East Asia.

Career highlights

Member, Editorial Board, Critical Asian Studies; Member, Editorial Advisory Board of both Asian Perspective and the Journal of Contemporary China; faculty member, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver (1966-1998); visiting appointments at ANU, University of Michigan, University of Tokyo, Keio University, and Chinese University of Hong Kong; former Member, Board of Directors, of both the National Committee on US-China Relations and Human Rights in China; and research fellowships from SSRC, ACLS, Fulbright, and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Chinese foreign policy, Sino-American relations, human rights, nuclear power, and Asia-Pacific security.