Michael Underdown

Dr Michael Underdown is an internationally known Altaic (Inner Asian) scholar and maritime and port lawyer. He has held visiting appointments and research fellowships in Russia, China, Korea and the United Kingdom. He has published and presented papers at conferences in Germany, France, Hungary, Korea, Romania, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, USA, Canada, Mongolia, China, Japan, Belgium, Macao, Singapore, Poland, UK and Malaysia.

He has extensive experience in government service, multi-sector project management and strategic planning. He managed one of two UN multilateral development projects for UNDP, coordinating the interests of China, Russia, North Korea, Mongolia and South Korea in the economic development of Northeast Asia and promoting and facilitating investment, trade and infrastructure projects as Director of the Intergovernmental Secretariat. He has been Research Specialist (East Asia) at the Parliament of Australia.

Dr Underdown has been a Special Counsel at Clayton Utz, a barrister in Dunedin and a solicitor in Nelson, New Zealand. He is an experienced maritime arbitrator and has given evidence to the Russian Duma, Parliament of Australia and Parliament of Western Australia.