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Grant Walton

Grant Walton is a Fellow at the Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy and Chair of the Transnational Research Institute on Corruption. He is on the editorial board for the journal Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies.

Grant draws on political geography and political science to research issues related to corruption, education policy, international development and civil society. Grant’s PhD thesis compared anti-corruption actors and citizens’ perspectives on corruption in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

For more than a decade Grant has conducted research in the Pacific, Africa and Asia for international donors and non-governmental organisations. Prior to joining the Development Policy Centre Grant worked as a lecturer for the University of Melbourne, and has worked and consulted for NGOs and governments.

Grant has published in academic journals and books and has authored major reports for donors and NGOs. This includes articles in The Journal of Education Policy; Political Geography; the Journal of Development Studies; Society and Natural Resources; Asia Pacific Viewpoint; Crime, Law and Social Change and Public Administration and Development. His research has also featured in Islands Business, Radio Australia, SBS News, the PNG Post-Courier, The National (PNG), The Australian, and the Canberra Times. His book, Anti-corruption and its Discontents: Local, National and International Perspectives on Corruption in Papua New Guinea, was published through Routledge in 2018.

Grant has been the Principal Investigator on the Strengthening Society and State Responses to Corruption in PNG research project, funded through the Australian aid program (funding of $644,587). This project involved a social experiment, interviews with public servants and desk reviews to better understand corruption and governance in PNG. He also conducts research on:

  • complaints to Fiji’s Independent Commission Against Corruption,
  • the political economy of PNG’s education system,
  • the politics of Solomon Islands anti-corruption policy,
  • the political economy of rice in the Philippines and PNG (with Dr Imelda Deinla).
  • transparency and governance in Pacific Fisheries,
  • organised crime across the Pacific,
  • the private security industry in PNG.