Tracy Beck Fenwick is the Director, of the Australian Centre for Federalism (SPIR) and an Associate Professor in the School of Politics in the College of Arts and Social Sciences,  Tracy is an expert in comparative federalism and social policy implementation. She has previously held visiting appointments at the University of British Columbia, McGill University, Universidad de San Martin (Argentina), Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), and at the Fundacão Getulio Vargas (FGV-SP). Tracy was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies at ANU, and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan.

Tracy has worked as a consultant and advisor on federalism and social protection policy to the World Bank, UNICEF, national governments and NGOs. She completed her doctorate specializing in Comparative Politics at the University of Oxford, U.K. in 2009 (St. Anthony's College). She holds a M.A. in Comparative Politics and a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Economics from McGill University, Canada. She edited "Beyond Autonomy: Practical and Theoretical Challenges to 21st Century Federalism" with Andrew Banfield (2021) and published a single-authored book: (2016) "Avoiding Governors: Federalism, Democracy, and Poverty Alleviation in Brazil and Argentina." Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.  She also recently published in Publius (2021); Policy and Society (2018); Policy Studies (2017); Global Social Policy (2013), the Journal of Politics in Latin America (2010), and in the Latin American Research Review (2009). From 2003 to 2004, Tracy was also young professional with the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL) based at FLACSO in Santo Domingo.  At the School of Politics and International Relations, Tracy teaches Research and Writing in Political Science, Politics in Latin America, and Power Sharing: Federalism in Comparative Perspective.

D.Phil in Politics (University of Oxford), MA in Comparative Political Science (McGill University, Canada). BA in Latin American Studies and Economics (McGill University, Canada).

Comparative Politics and Government (Regime Types) and Comparative Social Policy (Implementation and Design of Social Protection (CCTs), Federalism and the Welfare State, Subnational Governance and Decentralization, Local and Urban Politics. She has a Regional Expertise in Latin American (Brazil and Argentina). She has also worked on Australia, Canada, and Nepal.