Royal Society elects first female political scientist

The first female professor of political science at the University of Canterbury (UC) has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, it was announced today.

Professor Anne-Marie Brady is the first female political scientist to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society, and only the fourth political scientist to be have received the honour.

She is one of 19 new Ngā Ahurei a Te Apārangi Fellows and Ngā Ahurei Honore a Te Apārangi Honorary Fellows to have been elected to the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi for distinction in research and advancement of science, technology or the humanities.

The author of 10 books and more than 50 scholarly papers detailing China’s foreign and domestic politics, Antarctic and Arctic politics, Pacific politics and New Zealand foreign policy, Professor Brady is a prolific researcher and communicator.

‘I am truly honoured to be joining the ranks of the Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand, especially because I am the first female political scientist to be accepted as a Fellow,” she said. “It amazes me that after more than a hundred years of the feminist movement in Aotearoa New Zealand there are still glass ceilings to be broken.

“I hope my achievements can inspire others to take an interest in politics and in the wellbeing of our society. A strong democracy relies on an active, engaged, and inclusive citizenry.”

A Fellows’ Admission Day will be held at the Royal Society Te Apārangi on Thursday 13 February 2020 where new Fellows will be presented with Fellowship certificates and will sign the Fellows’ book.

Being made a Fellow is an honour that recognises distinction in research, scholarship or the advancement of knowledge at the highest international standards. Fellows can use the post-nominal ‘FRSNZ’ after their name to indicate this honour.

Professor Brady recently also won the 2019 Women of Influence - Global category award.

About Professor Anne-Marie Brady

The research of Professor Brady on Antarctic politics, China’s polar interests, and the Chinese Communist Party’s domestic and foreign policy, in particular, foreign interference activities, has been a catalyst contributing to policy adjustments by governments from the United States to New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Canada, and the EU. Her research has been publicly praised by Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio. Her testimony on Antarctica and China is recorded in Hansard in the Australian Parliament, as well as in several reports on Antarctica prepared for the Australian government. Her policy advice helped spark an inquiry into foreign interference in the New Zealand parliament. Her research on small states in the changing global order has assisted New Zealand and other small state governments with contestable policy advice. She founded a ground-breaking journal of polar social sciences, which offers policy relevant research on the Arctic and Antarctic. In 2019, she was awarded the New Zealand Women of Influence Global Influence Award.

Professor Brady was educated in Auckland, Shanghai, and Canberra and is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker with dual degrees up to PhD level in Chinese Studies and Political Science and International Relations.

She is a Professor in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, as well as a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham, and a member of the Council on Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (New Zealand). She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at East China Normal University, Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, Beijing University, and Renmin University.

Read more: Royal Society announcement

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