Julian Lee

Associate Professor Julian CH Lee is the Associate Dean, Global and Language Studies, in RMIT's School of Global, Urban and Social Studies.

Julian CH Lee completed his PhD in Anthropology in 2007. His research has resulted in a number of books and edited volumes including A Skillied Hand and a Cultivated Mind: A Culture of Learning and Teaching at RMIT (2024); The Digital Global Condition (2023); Punks Monk and Politics: Authenticity in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia (2016); and Malaysia’s New Ethnoscapes and Ways of Belonging (2015).

Julian’s contributions to the field of Global Studies have revolved around the subjective experience of globalisation, which is explored in his 2016 edited volume Narratives of Globalisation: Reflections on the Global Condition (2016). His interest in reflexive and creative ways of exploring social and political issues is extended in his innovative co-authored book, Monsters of Modernity: Global Icons for Our Critical Condition (2019), which is published open-access with the UK academic publisher Kismet Press. In that book as well as other publications, Julian explores his interests in holistic and planetary perspectives and systems thinking. His most recent book in the field of Global Studies is the co-edited The Digital Global Condition (2023).

Julian has also made contributions to the scholarship of learning and teaching, especially in relation to employability and work integrated learning. His co-presented paper on ‘Internship Crafting’ won Best Paper at the 2022 conference of The Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN), which is Australia’s national professional association for work-integrated learning and collaborative education. His 2024 co-edited volume, A Skilled Hand and a Cultivated Mind: A Culture of Learning and Teaching at RMIT University (2024), features contributions from colleagues in Global and Language Studies and the wider university.

Among other things, Julian contributes to the open scholarship work at RMIT University, and serves on the Academic Advisory Board for the open-access academic publisher Kismet Press. In 2014, he received the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies ‘Research Excellence Award’, and in 2019 he received a Ralph McIntosh Commendation from RMIT.

Julian has significant experience as a writer for various media outlets in Australia and Malaysia. His work has featured in The Conversation as well as magazines in Malaysia. Many of his articles have been republished in his book Second Thoughts: On Globalisation, Malaysia, Society and Self (2015).

He has also carried research projects and non-research project with or for various organisations. In 2019 he conducted research into Australia’s humanitarian dispositions with Australian Red Cross.