Dr Alex Burns is a university research administrator and political scientist. He has worked since 2003 at multiple Australian universities in research administration / management, research, quality assurance, and teaching. His long-form CV is here.
From 1998 to 2008, he was a writer, site editor, and daily marketing newsletter writer (for two key periods) of the former Disinformation website, including during the 2000 US election and Dotcom crash, and Al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks on 11th September 2001 (for which he saw the aftermath). He provided acquisition / development editor expertise for several Disinformation Books titles.
He has written academic research and journalism for Contemporary Security Policy, Media International Australia and 21C Magazine, amongst other Australian and United States publications. Early journalism dealt primarily with United States counterculture; later academic work has focused on counterterrorism, the media, and the internet. He has presented at the International Studies Association’s annual / virtual conventions; the Australian International Political Economy Network’s annual workshops, the Oceanic Conference on International Studies, and the East-West Center (the latter in absentia). In 1999-2004, he organised panels and presented at This Is Not Art in Newcastle, and in 2002 at Straight Out of Brisbane.
He was part of the team that wrote the Smart Internet Technology Cooperative Research Centre’s Smart Internet 2010 (2005) report and roadshow that influenced National Broadband Network services planning and internet policy. He supported the bid team for the successful Smart Services CRC.
Dr Burns has been a guest lecturer and tutor / facilitator at Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology, and Swinburne Online. He holds a PhD and an MA in political science from Monash University; an MSc in strategic foresight from Swinburne University of Technology; a BA from La Trobe University; and various Graduate Certificates, including in Teaching & Learning (Higher Education) from Swinburne University of Technology. Producers of Netflix’s series How To Become A Cult Leader used his PhD as background research for episode 5 on Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo. He is currently a UNSW student in the Master of Special Operations and Irregular Warfare. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.
