Mastering Policy & Strategy in the Indo-Pacific (MPSI)
Develop strategic judgment under pressure.
MPSI is the Indo-Pacific Studies Center’s flagship live, cohort-based executive program for professionals operating in complex Indo-Pacific policy environments.
It is not an academic survey and not a skills-only short course. It is a structured, applied program focused on how policy decisions are made, constrained, and implemented under strategic pressure and uncertainty.
The curriculum uses the Strategic Pressure Framework (SPF) alongside decision stress-testing and scenario compression—training participants to diagnose strategic environments, test policy options under constraint, and defend decisions with explicit trade-offs.
MPSI is designed for analysts and advisers — inside and outside formal decision-making institutions — whose work must inform and withstand real policy and strategic decisions.
The MPSI Difference
MPSI is built around disciplined analysis and defensible judgment. Participants learn to make trade-offs explicit, identify interacting pressures and tipping points, and produce decision-ready outputs for senior audiences—rather than descriptive analysis or open-ended debate.
Diagnose pressures
Use SPF to read strategic environments as interacting systems, not isolated issues.
Force trade-offs
Move from “all good options” to explicit choices with costs, constraints, and accountability.
Stress-test decisions
Apply scenario compression and stress-testing to keep analysis decision-ready—three scenarios, not endless hypotheticals.
Produce usable outputs
Graduate with a portable professional artifact: a capstone Strategic Decision Brief with risk acceptance and early-warning indicators.
Program Architecture
The syllabus progresses from system diagnosis to strategic sector application, then to stress-tested decision-making and capstone integration. Every week includes a live session, curated materials, and an applied exercise.
- Week 1: Strategic landscape and cumulative strategic pressure
- Week 2: SPF: five pressure domains, interactions, tipping points
- Applied: pressure mapping + policy trade-off simulation
- Week 3: deterrence, signalling, escalation, and grey-zone activity
- Week 4: maritime strategy, sea-lane governance, lawfare, and coercion
- Week 5: technology, geoeconomics, and strategic supply chains
- Week 6: scenario compression + decision horizons (90 days vs 24 months)
- Week 7: decision-making under constraint: defend one option under challenge
- Week 8: integrated capstone: Strategic Decision Brief + peer review
Strategic judgment in the Indo-Pacific
Strategy in the Indo-Pacific is shaped less by doctrine than by uncertainty, constraint, and consequence. MPSI trains participants to read pressure interactions, stress-test options, and brief decisions that can survive scrutiny.
Policy, security, and strategy professionals
Designed for government officials and advisers, policy analysts, defence and foreign policy practitioners, corporate strategy and risk leaders, multilateral and NGO policy staff, and advanced postgraduates transitioning into policy roles. Admission is selective to preserve cohort quality and peer learning value.
90 minutes live + applied work each week
Each week includes a live 90-minute session, curated readings and policy materials, and one applied analytical exercise. Active participation is expected throughout the program.
A decision-ready capstone brief
There are no exams or grades. Completion requires participation and submission of a 2–3 page Strategic Decision Brief including pressure diagnosis, rejected options, chosen course of action, risk acceptance, and early-warning indicators.
Weekly Syllabus (8 Weeks)
The outline below reflects the formal MPSI syllabus: each week is anchored in a strategic focus area and includes an applied exercise. Confirmed participants receive detailed session materials, curated readings, and exercise instructions.
One live 90-minute session · curated readings and policy materials · one applied analytical exercise.
Understand the Indo-Pacific as a strategic system. Apply cumulative strategic pressure thinking.
Applied: Pressure Mapping Drill.
Learn SPF: five pressure domains, interactions, tipping points, and common analytical biases.
Applied: Policy Trade-off Simulation.
Deterrence, signalling, miscalculation, grey-zone activity, and alliance credibility in Indo-Pacific escalation dynamics.
Applied: Escalation Risk Assessment.
Maritime coercion below armed conflict, lawfare and ambiguity, and sea-lane vulnerability as strategic multipliers.
Applied: Maritime Pressure Assessment.
Weaponised interdependence, supply-chain chokepoints, technology governance and standards as strategic leverage.
Applied: Supply-Chain Stress Test.
Turn analysis into decision-ready scenarios: compress to three plausible futures and compare 90-day vs 24-month horizons.
Applied: Compressed Scenario Design.
Defend a single course of action under uncertainty: risk acceptance versus risk avoidance, accountability, and judgment.
Applied: Policy Choice Under Fire.
Integrated application of SPF and stress-testing methods.
Capstone: Strategic Decision Brief (2–3 pages) + peer review.
Program Differentiation
MPSI is distinguished by SPF, emphasis on interacting pressures rather than silos, forced trade-offs and judgment under constraint, and a small cohort, high-engagement design.
This program is not
- A lecture-based survey of regional topics
- A theory-heavy academic seminar with grades
- A passive webinar series
- An open-ended debate forum without synthesis
This program is
- Framework-led (SPF) and decision-focused
- Built around stress-testing and scenario compression
- Designed for professionals who brief leaders
- Structured to produce a portable capstone artifact
Program Leadership & Faculty
MPSI is delivered by IPSC’s faculty and invited practitioners. Program leadership is structured to ensure rigorous strategic framing, disciplined discussion, and decision-ready synthesis across all sessions.
Dr Hugh Tuckfield
Founder and Executive Director, Indo-Pacific Studies Center · Lead Faculty (MPSI)
Political theorist and practitioner-oriented strategist focused on Indo-Pacific regional order, strategic pressure diagnosis,
and policy design under constraint. Anchors SPF framing and capstone standards across the program.
Will Marshall
IPSC Non-Resident Fellow · Program Director (MPSI)
Oversees cohort delivery, seminar cadence, participant experience, and facilitation support across the eight-week program.
Rear Admiral Sanjay Roye
Senior naval leader and strategic practitioner with 37 years of operational and executive experience. Expertise in strategic acquisitions, complex defence programs, and risk management under uncertainty.
Professor Carlyle Thayer
Southeast Asia security scholar and Vietnam specialist. Extensive academic and policy experience across UNSW, ANU, APCSS (Honolulu), with strategic advisory work focused on ASEAN, major-power dynamics, and the South China Sea.
Additional Faculty (To Be Announced)
Guest Practitioners & Subject-Matter Experts · Confirmed shortly
IPSC will announce additional faculty shortly, including senior practitioners and specialists aligned to the weekly syllabus.
Confirmed participants will receive updated faculty details and session allocations prior to program commencement.
Live Cohorts by Time Zone
MPSI is delivered in live online cohorts aligned to participant time zones. Cohorts are scheduled by demand to protect a high-engagement, discussion-led environment.
Time-zone focus: North & South America (UTC−5 to UTC−8).
Seminar window: 15:00–17:00 ET.
Start: March 2026 (cohort schedule confirmed with enrolled participants).
Delivered in the same 8-week syllabus and capstone requirements as all cohorts.
Time-zone focus: Europe, UK, Middle East & Africa (UTC 0 to UTC+3).
Cohort delivery is sequenced and will proceed subject to confirmed demand for this intake.
Time-zone focus: South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia & the Pacific (UTC+5 to UTC+11).
Seminar window: 18:00–20:00 AEDT / 14:30–16:30 IST.
This is the primary intake for Cohort 1 and the anchor discussion environment.