Dr Merriden Varrall

Dr Merriden Varrall is a geopolitical strategist and insights consultant, helping organisations understand and navigate the complex global geopolitical environment. 

Merriden provides insights into global, regional, and local geopolitical trends and works with clients to develop strategies and solutions to identify and mitigate risk and maximise opportunities.  

Formerly KPMG Australia’s Lead Partner on geopolitics and now Special Advisor Geopolitics to KPMG South ASPAC, Merriden is a sought-after commentator on geopolitics, East Asia, China’s foreign policy, and Australia’s bilateral relationship with China. Her analyses have appeared in publications such as The Quarterly, The New York Times, Nikkei Asian Review, Foreign Policy, The East Asia Forum, and the Lowy Interpreter, among others.

From 2014-2018, Merriden was the Director of the Lowy Institute’s East Asia Program. She is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at Lowy. Before joining the Institute, Merriden was a senior UN diplomat in China. Prior to that she worked for the Australian Government Treasury and the Department of Family and Community Services.

Merriden spent almost eight years living and working in China, including lecturing in foreign policy at the China Foreign Affairs University and conducting fieldwork for her doctoral research. Merriden has a PhD examining Chinese foreign policy from Macquarie University, Sydney, and the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. She has a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the Australian National University and completed her undergraduate studies in international studies at the University of Technology Sydney.