Vafa Ghazavi is the Executive Director for Research and Policy at the James Martin Institute for Public Policy.
Vafa is a public policy strategist and political philosopher. He has worked in the policy planning branch of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, among other roles, and previously served as a diplomat in Afghanistan and to the United Nations in Vienna. Vafa also worked as an adviser in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
He has been a visiting researcher on ethics with the AI lab, DeepMind, and taught political theory at the University of Oxford. In addition to his academic work, Vafa has written for publications including the Boston Review, The Guardian, Public Seminar, The Philosopher, The Interpreter, the Oxford Review of Books, and The Times Literary Supplement.
He is currently a Carr Center Fellow at Harvard University and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
Vafa is a graduate of the University of Sydney, where he won the university medal, and Harvard University, where he completed a master’s in public administration as a Fulbright Scholar. He completed his doctorate at the University of Oxford, where he studied as a John Monash Scholar.
Hugh Piper is Research & Policy Manager at the James Martin Institute for Public Policy.
Hugh brings experience working across foreign and national security policy, strategic communications, and digital property markets. Before joining the Institute, Hugh held various roles at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including as a strategic policy adviser and ministerial speechwriter.
Hugh previously worked in various research and policy roles, including developing strategy for digital campaigns to counter violent extremism and leading on policy and law reform for two successful start-ups in the rental property sector.
A Sydney local, Hugh is a graduate of the University of Sydney, holding a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours, focussing on Australian constitutional law, and a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours, focussing on the history of U.S. foreign policy.
He is dedicated to effective policy analysis, research, and communications across a broad range of complex policy issues.