David Lowe

Professor David Lowe is Chair in Contemporary History at Deakin University, and a co-founder of the Australian Policy and History network.

David is a historian of international relations and Australia in world affairs. He has published on aspects of decolonisation and the Cold War, and on Australia's overseas policies after the Second World War. He is currently researching and writing on: a conceptual of national security in Australia; an international history of the Colombo Plan; and the history of foreign aid, including Australian foreign aid. His books include, Australian Between Empires: the Life of Percy Spender, Pickering and Chatto, 2010, with Tony Joel, Remembering the Cold War, Routledge, 2013, and with Carola Lentz, Remembering Independence, Routledge, 2018. His most recent book is, The Colombo Plan: Development Internationalism in Cold War Asia, Cambridge, 2025.