Frank Bongiorno

Director of the Vice-Chancellor's Centre of Public Ideas (CoPI), University of Canberra & Donald Horne Professor of History and Public Ideas

Frank is a historian of Australia, with a focus on political and labour history, and his books include The Sex Lives of Australians: A History (2012), The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia (2015) and Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia (2022).

He has previously held academic appointments at Griffith University, the University of New England, King's College London and the Australian National University, where he was Professor of History and is now Emeritus Professor. He was also Smuts Visiting Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge in 1997–98 and is Distinguished Fellow of the Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University.

Frank is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Humanities. He serves as Deputy Chair of the Advisory Council of the National Archives of Australia and as a member of the Editorial Board of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Documents on Australian Foreign Policy project.

Frank is a Past President of the Australian Historical Association and current President of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

Michelle Grattan AO

Michelle Grattan is one of Australia's most respected political journalists. She has been a member of the Canberra parliamentary press gallery for more than 50 years, during which time she has covered all the most significant stories in Australian politics.

She was the former editor of The Canberra Times, was Political Editor of The Age and has been with the Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Michelle currently has a dual role with an academic position in the Vice Chancellor's Centre of Public Policy at the University of Canberra and as Associate Editor (Politics) and Chief Political Correspondent at The Conversation.

At the University of Canberra, Michelle is teaching, working on research projects in politics and political communication, as well as providing public commentary and strategic advice. She is the author, co-author and editor of several books, including The First Albanese Government: Governing in an Age of Disruption and Division, 2022–2025, ed. Michelle Grattan, John Halligan and John Hawkins (NewSouth, 2026); The Morrison Government: Governing Through Crisis, 2019-2022, ed. Brendan McCaffrie, Michelle Grattan and Chris Wallace (NewSouth, 2023); and Australian Prime Ministers (revised and updated edition, New Holland, 2020).

Michelle was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2004 for her long and distinguished service to Australian journalism.

Joshua Black

Lecturer in Australian Political Studies, Vice-Chancellor's Centre of Public Ideas, University of Canberra

Joshua is a historian of Australian politics, society and culture. He is the author of Performance Politics: Australian politicians and the stories they tell (2026) and the co-editor, with Frank Bongiorno and Carolyn Holbrook, of Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke government (2026).

Joshua has taught at several Australian universities including the ANU, where he earned his doctorate. He has published his research in a range of academic and scholarly forums.

He has previously been a Palace Letters Fellow at the Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Australia Institute in Canberra. He has also worked in government as a ministerial speechwriter on technology and industrial policy.

Marikit Manalang

Marikit is the Business and Operations Manager of the Vice-Chancellor's Centre of Public Ideas (CoPI), where she supports CoPI's programs, partnerships and operations, including the Pathways to Politics for Women program. She holds degrees in Business Administration, International Relations and International Development, and was awarded the Japanese Government's MEXT scholarship for both her undergraduate and master's studies in Japan. Her career has taken her across three continents, from university teaching in Japan to program management at the Center for Industrial Ecology (CIE) at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE) and researcher development (UC ReD) at the University of Canberra.

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