The Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC in conversation with the Provost, Dr Gillian Tett

Former Prime Minister of Australia and Global President and CEO of Asia Society, Dr Kevin Rudd, AO will join the Provost for a fireside chat on China, geopolitics and a changing world order. Places are strictly limited, so reserve your seat now.

About Kevin Rudd:

The Honourable Dr Kevin Rudd A.C. is a leading international authority on China. He currently serves as Global President and CEO of Asia Society in New York. Dr Rudd returned to lead Asia Society in March 2026 following three years as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States under the Trump and Biden Administrations. He previously served as Australia's 26th Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010 and as Foreign Minister from 2010 to 2012, before returning as Prime Minister in 2013. 

As Prime Minister, Dr Rudd steered Australia through the Global Financial Crisis. As the only major developed economy not to go into recession, he was recognized by the IMF as having led the world’s most effective stimulus response. As Prime Minister, he was a co‑founder of the G20 Summit. He drove changes in Indo-Pacific regional strategic architecture, UN reform and global climate change action. Domestically, he has been a leading force in Indigenous reconciliation and education and health reform. 

Dr Rudd started his diplomatic career in 1981 with postings to Beijing and Stockholm. In 1989 he was appointed Chief-of-Staff to the Premier of the state of Queensland and became Director-General of the Cabinet Office from 1991 to 1995. He also worked in the private sector for KPMG from 1996 to 1998 working on Australian investment projects in China. He was elected to the Australian Parliament in 1998, becoming Shadow Foreign Minister in 2001 and then Leader of the Opposition in 2006. Proficient in Mandarin Chinese, he graduated with Honours in Chinese language and East Asian history from the Australian National University in 1981 and also studied Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei.  In 2022 he was awarded his DPhil from Oxford University for his dissertation on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ideological worldview.

Asia Society was established in 1956 and now operates across 16 centres with more than 250 staff around the world. Dr. Rudd is also Founding President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, a "think-and-do tank" focused on global engagement with Asia, and the Founding Chair of its Centre for China Analysis. He has published two books on China and U.S.-China relations, On Xi Jinping (2024) and The Avoidable War (2022). 

In 2019, Dr Rudd was awarded Australia’s highest honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia, for eminent service to Indigenous reconciliation, for innovative economic initiatives during the Global Financial Crisis and other major domestic policy reforms during his term in office.