MIAS Committee 2023
Every year, the Committee is elected during the Annual General Meeting (AGM). These are the primary leaders of the group, ensuring that MIAS falls in line with C&S requirements as well as making the final decisions on finances, events, and more.
President: Jerry Nguyen
Jerry is in her final year of Global Studies and French, specialising in International Relations. As President, she strives to guide a team of passionate individuals whose purpose is to bring more seats to the tables for youth involvement international affairs. After her two years as Academics Officer (2021 & 2022), she hopes to utilise MIAS’ growing platform to equip students with the skills, knowledge and confidence to understand the world of foreign policy.
In 2023, the balance between MIAS’ three pillars of Socials, Academics and Model United Nations will be greatly emphasised. Through MIAS’ innovative events, Jerry hopes to enshrines key values of cultural diversity, women-empowerment, First Nations policies when discussing international issues. For Jerry, a key indicator of MIAS’ success will be defined by the extent to which its membership feels included in the discussions that impact them. MIAS has been a place of friendship, opportunities and discovery for Jerry. She feels privileged to be leading the next generation of MIAS leaders in 2023. When she is not on her emails, Jerry is busy photoshopping random pics of her friends onto memes. Jerry has a passion for creating bingo boards, attending book clubs and potteries.
Vice President: Lucy Porter
Lucy is the Vice President for MIAS in 2023. She is a fourth year medicine and bioethics student with an interest in the interaction between international affairs, public policy and health. This is her third year as a member of the MIAS committee, being involved as Assistant Treasurer and Socials Officer previously.
As Vice President, Lucy is excited for the opportunity to help foster a sense of community among MIAS members, and work with Jerry to continue the work of previous committees to ensure MIAS’ long term success, so the club can continue to provide its members with a variety of opportunities. She is passionate about ensuring the sustainability and inclusivity of the club and its events, and promoting the involvement of Monash students in international affairs. Lucy is excited to be a part of such an amazing and committed team.
Lucy is particularly interested in the effect of foreign affairs and globalisation on the social, mental and physical health of individuals, and is probably a little too invested in UK politics. She loves being part of, or adjudicating, a good debate, and when she’s not daydreaming of travelling, you can often find her watching too many soapy dramas or spending time with friends and family.
Secretary: Sandon Hayes
Sandon is the MIAS Secretary for 2022. He is currently completing his fifth year of Law/Arts degree, with a minor in International Relations. Sandon got involved in MIAS through their amazing GlobalMUN program, and is excited to be heading to Paris alongside his WorldMUN teammates later this year. Sandon is looking forward to working closely with the 2023 Committee to create (even more) amazing opportunities across academics, socials and Model UN for current and future MIAS members. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing and being perennially disappointed by the Carlton Football Club during the AFL season.
Treasurer: Erin Page
Erin is in her Fourth Year of Law and Global Studies, specialising in International Relations. She absolutely loves all uni competitions whether it be Debating, Model UN or Mooting and loves learning about all things History related. Erin’s passion for discounts and budgeting are really shining through this year as she’s moving into the Treasurer role after the past two years on MIAS as Sponsorships Officer. This year she is focusing on helping student’s get the most out of their MIAS membership by making all events the best that they can be.
Academic Officer (Careers and Internships): Josh Rindflesh
Academic Officer (Events and Faculty Relations): Erin Galbraith
Erin is a 4th year Law/Arts student majoring in International Relations. As a first time committee member, Erin is incredibly excited to be the 2023 Academics Officer for Events and Faculty Relations. In this role, she intends to bring students events exploring current issues in international affairs, career paths into the industry, and insights into the skills and experience necessary to succeed professionally.
Her priority is promoting diversity and inclusion in the industry, and ensuring students of all faculties and backgrounds have the opportunity to pursue a career in international affairs. When she is not studying, Erin loves travelling, cooking, (badly) doing yoga, and spending way too much time on TikTok. Erin is thrilled to be part of such a talented and dedicated committee, and cannot wait to support fellow committee members in bringing their visions for MIAS to life in 2023.
Communications Officer: Esther Chen (she/her)
Esther is a 2nd year Law and PPE student. After attending MIAS events in her first year at Monash she loved it so much and joined the committee in her second year. She is excited to work with all the committee members and to see what 2023 brings! Esther is in the 2023 Harvard WorldMun delegation going to Paris, she is so excited to be Esther in Paris.
She is a proud intersectional woman who has a keen interest in systemic gender equity, economic empowerment of women and the wide-scale implementation of restorative justice. Outside of uni life, you can find Esther cuddling her cat, creating makeup looks on her face, cooking yummy food for her friends and dancing to Taylor Swift in her room.
As your Communications Officer for 2023, Esther hopes to create high-quality, accessible content for our members. She also hopes to dive into the exciting world of video content. Esther is keen to work with the Marketing Subcommittee to engage our members with the club’s online presence and reach new members. Look out for some fun video content on our socials this year!
Socials Officer: Jacqui Gill
Jacqui is the Socials Officer for this year and is in her last year of uni! She is studying a Bachelor of Global Studies, specialising in Human Rights. She is very keen to organise fun social events where more MIAS members can get to know each other and meet like minded friends! The connectedness of MIAS’ community and the brilliant opportunities has been one of her favourite parts of her university experience so she is excited to see MIAS continue to flourish!!
Jacqui got involved with MIAS last year through the Towards Global Responsibility in Afghanistan Debate and her role as Publications Officer! Being on Subcom especially was really rewarding and she highly recommends it if you would like to get a bit of a taster of what being on the MIAS Committee is like! She is mainly interested in global health, gender equality and international crime and justice. She also loves ice skating, cats and binging Ted Lasso and Fleabag. Jacqui is so grateful to be a part of such an inclusive and passionate committee this year!
MUN Officer: Imogen Kane (she/her)
Suhara is a 4th year Law and Global Studies student, specialising in Human Rights. As a Model United Nations Officer, she is excited to see newcomers join MUN and present workshops that are accessible to all skill levels. Suhara began her journey at MIAS through attending a MUN event and having had such an amazing experience would love to ensure that all members have a safe and welcoming environment to thrive. She hopes to create a social media page for all things exclusive to MUN!
Suhara is especially interested in international development, neoliberalism, disengagement from radicalism and the ethics of war. Outside of university you’ll find her binging K-dramas, curating Spotify playlists and planning her next travel adventure. However, you will probably find her chatting about her dog Nala and showing off Nala’s instagram account. Suhara can’t wait to see what the MIAS Committee will achieve in 2023!
MUN Officer: David Dau
David is in his fourth year of Engineering and Arts majoring in Civil Engineering and International Relations. David is interested in international politics and institutions, security and foreign policy. Specifically, he is keenly focused on contemporary European political history, from the Napoleonic Era to the formation and development of the European Union today. Outside studying, he also loves travelling, maps as well as urban design and planning.
David first got involved in MIAS as a participant at one of the club’s FunMUN back in 2021. From then onwards, he participated in many events with MIAS such as MUNash, trivia nights and career workshops. As a MUN Officer with MIAS, David hopes to utilise his role to make MIAS a more friendly and opening club for students who have an interest in Model UN and everything United Nations in general.
Sponsorships Officer: Aashna Shah
Aashna is a 4th year Law and Commerce student majoring in Economics. Aashna discovered her passion for international affairs after competing in Model UN during high school and is excited to continue it as a part of MIAS’s 2023 WorldMUN delegation to Paris!
She is an avid reader, who you will find reading anything and everything – from politics and psychology, to fantasy – especially Sarah J Maas books. Aashna loves talking about tennis, fashion, international affairs, and so much more – she’s always open to have a chat!
Aashna is honoured to be a part of the wonderful and talented 2023 MIAS Committee as the Sponsorship Officer for 2023. With this opportunity, she aims to ensure club endeavours are fully funded so MIAS can continue to inspire young leaders and provide opportunities for young leaders to thrive.
First Year Officer: Sithmi Konara (she/her)
Sithmi is a first year Law/PPE student who is excited to join the MIAS team as first years’ officer! It’s one of the first clubs that she got involved with in Semester 1 and she is grateful for it as MIAS events provided her with such a sense of home and community. She found the social events were the perfect opportunity to connect with others who had similar interests. Additionally, the academic events facilitated a welcoming environment to learn more about international affairs in a comfortable, non-confronting space.
Sithmi can not wait to facilitate the same experience to club newbies in her role as First Years’ Liaison. If you see Sithmi around on campus, don’t hesitate to say hi as she is always up for a chat!
Pivot Editor-in-Chief: Tristan Jamson
Tristan is the Editor-in-Chief for Pivot in 2022. He is studying arts/law with a focus on international law, history and German. Tristan became involved in Pivot due to his investment in understanding contemporary and historical international affairs.
As Pivot EIC, his aim is to make accessible, both to himself and others, the symptoms, causes and effects of the structural changes that define modern IR and to foster a robust discussion on their significance, particularly for the emerging generation of Australian leaders. With this in mind, he hopes to place greater emphasis both on the role international law plays in framing world order and the role Australia has to play in response to regional and global challenges.
Pivot Editor-in-Chief: Devan Phillipson
Devan is the Editor-in-Chief for Pivot in 2022. He is studying a Master of International Relations specialising in Counterterrorism and Political Violence.
Devan has been with Pivot from the beginning, starting off as a guest writer in 2018 and working his way to Pivot EIC. As Pivot EIC, Devan hopes to bring engaging and insightful articles to the wider Monash community and to deepen our knowledge of how International Affairs is so important in our everyday lives. In his spare time, you can Devan playing music, or volunteering in the Monash orientation program.
Atlas Coordinator: Phoebeanca Luong
Phoebeanca is in her 4th year of a Bachelor of Marketing & Arts majoring in International Relations and specialising in Chinese Foreign Policy. Initially joining MIAS in 2020 as a Marketing Officer and as the USG for Communications for MUNash 2021, Phoebeanca has enjoyed immersing herself in MIAS where she can work with passionate and forward-thinking peers while utilising her background in Marketing and love for IR.
Thanks to MIAS, Phoebeanca was exposed to the world of Model UN after participating in her first MUN in MUNash 2020, then offered to compete in National Model UN 2021 and currently participating in Harvard World MUN 2022.S
She is looking forward to making International Affairs more accessible and digestible to people from all disciplines through an array of Atlas podcasts in 2022 and is thrilled to continue working with MIAS in achieving this goal!
Atlas Coordinator: Shanaya Jayawardana De Silva
Shanaya is a 4th year Global studies, Commerce, and French Student specialising in international relations and majoring in economics. After attending a few MIAS events and seeing the warm and welcoming environment they create within their team and club members, she was excited to join the team and work with so many passionate and like minded people. Outside of uni, Shanaya spends most of her time binge watching TV shows and loves travelling and spending time with her friends and family.
She has an interest in foreign policy and a passion for human rights and history and hopes to explore these more in the various podcasts Atlas will release in 2022. Shanaya is keen to collaborate with the MIAS team and create amazing content that will hopefully be both informative and enjoyable to all listeners.