Bec Strating is Director of La Trobe Asia and Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Professor Strating was formerly an Asian Studies Visiting Fellow at East West Center in Washington DC, visiting affiliate fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, affiliated researcher at Georgetown University and a non-visiting fellow at the Perth US Asia Centre. She received her PhD from Monash University in 2013.

She has extensive experience working in the academia-policy-public engagement nexus in the fields of international diplomacy and security. Her research focuses primarily on Asian regional security, maritime disputes, and Australian foreign and defence policy. She is the author of ‘Girt by Sea: reimagining Australia’s Security’ with Professor Joanne Wallis (La Trobe University Press/Black Inc, 2024) and co-editor of 'Blue Security: Maritime Strategies in the Indo-Pacific' (Routledge, 2024).