David McRae

Dave McRae is a senior research fellow in the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne.

He has researched conflict, politics, democratisation and human rights issues in Indonesia for over a decade. He wrote his PhD at the Australian National University on post-authoritarian inter-religious violence in Indonesia, explaining why civil-war-like violence could suddenly occur in a previously quiescent region. As Lead Researcher for the World Bank’s Conflict and Development Team in Indonesia between 2008 and 2010 he led a research program on interventions to prevent conflict and address its impacts. He worked for the Jakarta office of the International Crisis Group between 2004 and 2006, researching and writing reports on most of Indonesia’s major conflict areas.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Asian Studies (Specialist-Indonesian) degree with honours and university medal from the Australian National University, as well as a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies, and speaks fluent Indonesian.