Alumni in profile
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Associate Professor David Lowe
Deakin staff Alumni member
After several years spent studying towards a PhD and working in academia in England, Dr David Lowe joined Deakin University from Cambridge University in 1991 as a lecturer with the Faculty of Arts. From 1993 to 1995 David was also a Monash lecturer in Australian Politics at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, University of London.
A well-known and respected Deakin academic, Dr David Lowe has published widely on Australia's involvement in wars, including the Cold War, and on aspects of Australia's overseas policies in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1999 he published the book, Menzies and the 'Great World Struggle': Australia's Cold War 1948-1954 (UNSW Press). He is currently researching and writing on several topics including parliamentary debates and Australian foreign policy; national service in the 1950s; the history of Australian involvement in the Colombo Plan; and the life of former Australian Minister for External Affairs the late Sir Percy Spender.
David is currently researching, with fellow Deakin staff members David Walker and Chris Waters, the story of Australia's involvement in the Colombo Plan for aid to South and South-East Asia. Conceived in 1950, the Colombo Plan was one of the most important means by which Australians created a positive image of themselves in their region, largely through the provision of scholarships for Asian students to attend university courses and training in Australia, and in the sending of Australian experts to Asia. In this research project, funded by the Australian Research Council, the three Deakin historians are exploring the successes and limitations of what might be called Australian cultural diplomacy. In their resulting publications they will provide a richer base from which to measure and debate levels of Australian engagement with Asia since the second world war.
David is currently Associate Head of School in the area of Cultures, Languages and Historical Studies at the Geelong campus at Waurn Ponds and although he spent several years in the United Kingdom, David points out that he speaks with no traces of an English accent!
