Dr Ross McKerracher

Bio

Ross McKerracher is serving as the inaugural International Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, while on a one-year leave from his national security role in the Australian Government.

With physics, neuroscience and engineering qualifications, Ross has spent 20 years in the Australian Public Service: in regulatory, policy, national security and senior executive roles. In these roles he’s advised the governments on the strategic, national security, economic and political implications of cyberspace, science and technology issues. He has also built and led institutional capabilities in these areas.

Ross takes an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to help senior decision-makers understand the effect of technology on how states exercise power, and how the exercise of state power affects technological development. He works with a range of government agencies, as well as private sector and academic partners – fusing disciplines such as science (including data science), engineering, economics, history, strategic studies and political science.

At Hoover he will focus on how technology intersects with alliances and strategic competition. More specifically how the trajectory of US–China technological competition will affect the balances of power between the US, China and other nation states. His analysis will include technologies such as AI, quantum technologies, space, semiconductors, biotechnology; and cross-cutting factors such as research strength, talent, supply chains, capital flows and market access. He’s seeking to use quantitative and qualitative methods – harnessing AI tools where feasible.

Ross has a PhD in Physics (nonlinear fibre optics) from the University of Sydney and undergraduate degrees in Electronic Engineering (Honours I) and Science (Physiology and Neuroscience) from the University of Western Australia.