Anne-Marie Sharon Brady (born 1966) is a New Zealand academic and Professor of Political Science at the University of Canterbury. She specialises in Chinese domestic and foreign politics, Antarctic and Arctic politics, Pacific politics, and New Zealand Foreign Policy.
Professor Brady is the first female political scientist to be elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of New Zealand, Te Apārangi.
Her research 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 of the US, to New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Canada, and the EU.
Education
Brady earned her Bachelor's of Arts (B.A.) in Chinese and Political Studies from the University of Auckland in 1989. She then earned her Masters of Asian Studies; Chinese and Political Studies with First Class Honours at the University of Auckland in 1994. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in East Asian Studies: International Relations at the Australian National University in 2000 with a thesis titled Making the foreign serve China: managing foreigners in the People's Republic of China. In 2009, Brady earned a Post-Graduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies with Distinction at the University of Canterbury. Brady is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Academic career
In 2001, Brady joined the College of Arts, Department of Political Science and International Relations, at the University of Canterbury. Brady later became a professor of Political Science at the same University. She taught both undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as providing graduate supervision on: Chinese politics, East Asian politics, Polar politics, China and the South Pacific as well as New Zealand foreign policy.
Brady is the founding and executive Editor of The Polar Journal, published by Taylor & Francis.
Fellowships
Global Fellow with the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States’ Polar Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a defence and strategic policy think tank based in Canberra. Non-resident Senior Fellow at the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham in the UK, Member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Action Council on the Arctic, 2014 - 2016.
Awards and honours
In 2019, Professor Anne-Marie Brady was made a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi for her contribution towards the advancement of the humanities. She is the first female political scientist elected a Fellow of Royal Society Te Apārangi. Being made a Fellow is an honour that recognises distinction in research, scholarship or the advancement of knowledge at the highest international standards. The citation read:
Also in 2019, Brady was awarded the New Zealand Women of Influence Global Influence Award, to mark her contribution towards placing the spotlight on the issue of Chinese influence in the South Pacific. The citation read:
Exposé of Chinese Communist Party influence in New Zealand
In September 2017, Brady presented a conference paper Magic Weapons: China's political influence activities under Xi Jinping detailing the Chinese Communist Party's attempts to influence international opinion using New Zealand as a case study. Brady's paper argued that the Chinese government was working with Chinese diaspora community organizations and ethnic Chinese media as part of a united front strategy to advance Chinese political and economic interests in New Zealand. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in New Zealand included working with diaspora organizations and local media to cultivate relationships with New Zealand business and politicians from the country's two major parties, National and Labour.
In late 2017, she claimed to have become the target of a campaign of intimidation. A number of related properties were burgled, including her university office and home. progress was being made in the investigation and Interpol were involved. In December 2018, 303 academics, think-tankers, journalists, human-rights activists, politicians signed an open letter that was published on the Czech academic website Sinopsis condemning the harassment campaign against Brady and urging the New Zealand Government to protect her so she could continue her research.