Professor James Chin is the inaugural Director of the Asia Institute, University of Tasmania. He is also a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, Jaffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia, Malaysia.

Professor Chin is a leading commentator on Malaysian and Singaporean politics and has published extensively on Malaysia and the surrounding region. In addition, he works on small island states in the Pacific. He was previously Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore; and Professor of Political Science, Monash University, Malaysia campus. Prior to an academic career, he worked as a journalist in Malaysia and Singapore.