Associate Professor Robert Styles is the Deputy Director (Strategic Engagement) of the Australia Pacific Security College. In this role he advises and consults into the Pacific in order to advance the security agenda of the Region and enhance critical thinking about national security pressures and facilitate initiatives in response to the expanded security areas prioritised by the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Leaders in the 2018 Boe Declaration on Regional Security — climate, environment, human and national/traditional security.

As a Contextual Behavioural Scientist, Associate Professor Styles’ applied work is a study of how language and cognition functions to influence psychological and social wellbeing, particularly the enhancement of team and institutional productivity, collaboration and performance. Through the Crawford School, the ongoing application of his research is at the operational nexus of a number of different disciplines including applied behavioural psychology, organisational and cultural sociology, evolutionary science, and systems engineering. This work has been applied in Australia, Southwest Asia, Africa and most recently in the Pacific, within corporations, public-sector agencies and communities striving to improve strategic and behavioural approaches to human capital development. Particular areas of impact include food, water and energy security, gender equity, and social inclusion realised through individual and collective endeavours.