Dr. Julia Macdonald is the Director of Research and Engagement at the Asia New Zealand Foundation and a Research Professor at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs. She also regularly teaches courses at the Victoria University of Wellington, where she is a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Strategic Studies. Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr. Macdonald worked for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, leading work on New Zealand’s first National Security Strategy, and before that at the New Zealand Ministry of Defence. She was also an Assistant Professor at the University of Denver (2017-2021). Dr. Macdonald has published on a range of international security issues in academic and policy outlets and is a co-author of The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins of the US Autonomous Military Arsenal (Oxford University Press, 2025). She has held fellowships at Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Macdonald holds a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, an M.A. (Hons) from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the George Washington University.