Kokoda Foundation

Kokoda Foundation

The Kokoda Foundation has been established as an independent, not-for-profit think tank to research, and foster innovative thinking on, Australia’s future security challenges.

Goals

The Kokoda Foundation has two core goals:

To research Australia’s tough future national security challenges.
To foster the development of a new generation of young strategic thinkers who are well-equipped to deal with the diverse security challenges that lie ahead.

Operating Priorities

To conduct quality research on security issues commissioned by public and private sector organisations. These research projects will normally employ multi-disciplinary workshop processes involving close teaming with personnel from the sponsoring organisations. Such research can be conducted with high levels of discretion.
To foster innovative thinking on Australia’s future security challenges.
To publish quality Kokoda Papers on issues relevant to Australia’s security challenges.
To develop Security Challenges as the leading refereed journal in the field.
To encourage and, where appropriate, mentor a new generation of advanced strategic thinkers.
Encourage research contributions by current and retired senior officials, business people and others with relevant expertise.

Funding

The Kokoda Foundation is financed by a combination of:

Research and operating grants from public and private sector institutions.
Corporations or other organisations choosing to fund one or more research projects or lines of research.
Corporate and individual membership fees.
Sales of Kokoda Papers and subscriptions to Security Challenges.

Activities

The Kokoda Foundation conducts the following primary activities in order to achieve its goals:

Research

The Foundation undertakes research projects on key national security challenges. These research projects are always led by a person very knowledgeable in the field. The project director usually convenes a series of closed workshops involving senior officials and experts of relevance to discuss the key elements of the topic prior to drafting a project report. The Foundation’s project reports are usually published as Kokoda Papers.

Kokoda Papers published recently include:

Preparing Australia’s Defence for 2020: Transformation or Reform? by Ross Babbage
Australia’s Future Joint Strike Fighter Fleet: How Much is Too Little? by Peter Nicholson and David Connery
National Security Community 2020: Six Practical Recommendations by David Connery
Australia’s Future Underwater Operations and System Requirements by Ross Babbage
Firepower to Win: Australian Defence Force Joint Fires in 2020 by Alan Titheridge, Gary Waters, Ross Babbage
Strategic Tides: Positioning Australia’s Security Policy to 2050 by Allan Behm

Security Challenges Journal

The Foundation publishes Australia’s first refereed journal on security and defence issues. Security Challenges is published quarterly. For the latest information, please visit the journal's website.

Kokoda Trilogy

The Foundation organises and conducts an Australia-United States strategic Trilogy of events each year. Participants include very senior United States and Australian officials and Defence Force personnel. The first event is usually a Seminar-Dinner that is open to the public, the second a Closed Workshop and the third is a weekend retreat. In 2006 the Kokoda Trilogy focused on “Optimising the Australia-US Alliance for 2015”. In 2007 the topic of the Kokoda Trilogy was “Strategy for Winning the Long Struggle”.

Young Strategic Leaders' Forum (YSLF)

The Foundation organises and hosts the Young Strategic Leaders’ Forum (YSLF). This is a program that has been designed from the ground up to foster the strategic analytical and professional skills of those who have been employed by one of the agencies of the Australian national security community during the last five years. It is also open to those graduates or university students who aspire to make their careers within the Australian national security community.

The core goals of the YSLF are to encourage a new generation of young strategic leaders in Australia, to foster the strategic analytical and broader professional skills of this group and to build a stronger esprit de corps and a sense of “professional home” within this key group.

The YSLF holds monthly seminars focusing on strategic and professional development themes. Twice a year YSLs are offered the opportunity to attend a weekend congress on the South Coast of NSW. Young strategic professionals can meet and learn from some of Australia’s most senior national security officials and leaders.