Carlyle Alan Thayer is Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales, Canberra (UNSW Canberra) at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Born in Nevada City, California in 1945, he has devoted his career to the study of Southeast Asian politics, security, and international relations.
He completed his undergraduate degree in Political Science at Brown University (1967), his Master of Arts in Southeast Asian Studies at Yale University (1971), and his PhD in International Relations at The Australian National University (1977). During his graduate training he gained intensive proficiency in Vietnamese, Thai, and Lao languages.
Professor Thayer is a prolific scholar and commentator. He has authored or edited more than twenty books and monographs, published hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and contributed regularly to leading policy outlets including The Diplomat, Radio Free Asia, and various Asia-Pacific think-tanks.
He is Director of Thayer Consultancy (2002–present) and serves on multiple editorial boards including Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations, the International Journal of China Studies, and the Russian Journal of Vietnamese Studies (Moscow).