Certificate in Indo-Pacific Security
A six-week applied professional program examining the forces shaping security, deterrence and strategic competition across the Indo-Pacific.
Security developments are visible. Their strategic meaning is harder to see.
Military exercises, maritime confrontations, alliance initiatives, economic restrictions and diplomatic signals occur continuously. The professional challenge is to determine what these developments reveal about power, objectives, leverage, deterrence and the changing regional order.
Where is power concentrated?
Identify the actors, capabilities, geography and dependencies that shape the strategic environment.
What are actors trying to achieve?
Examine interests, objectives, constraints, signalling, coercion and likely behaviour.
Is the strategic balance changing?
Evaluate deterrence, force posture, alliances, grey-zone pressure and cumulative changes to the security environment.
What is the strategic effect?
Connect events to regional stability, escalation, strategic choice and plausible policy consequences.
Structured for working professionals
| Duration | 6 consecutive weeks |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Live online with regional participation |
| Lead facilitator | Dr Hugh S. Tuckfield, Executive Director and Founder, Indo-Pacific Studies Center |
| Learning model | Faculty instruction, contemporary cases, strategic frameworks, guided discussion and applied exercises |
| Assessment | Short lesson checks, applied exercises and a final strategic assessment |
| Completion standard | 75% overall standard; online lesson checks may be repeated |
| Credential | IPSC Certificate in Indo-Pacific Security |
| Entry requirement | No prior security or strategic-studies qualification required |
Six modules across the Indo-Pacific security system
Each module combines strategic concepts with current or realistic Indo-Pacific cases, guided analysis and an applied exercise. The emphasis throughout is on interpreting strategic behaviour rather than simply describing events.
The Indo-Pacific Strategic Order
Examine the distribution of power across the Indo-Pacific and the strategic roles of China, the United States, India, Japan, Australia, ASEAN and Pacific states. Analyse geography, regional institutions, competing concepts of order and the difference between structural change and temporary political movement.
Military Power, Deterrence and Escalation
Examine conventional and nuclear deterrence, deterrence by denial and punishment, extended deterrence, force posture, readiness, mobilisation and strategic signalling. Assess the distinction between possessing military capability and being able credibly to use it to influence another actor.
Alliances, Partnerships and Regional Security Architecture
Examine the US alliance network, AUKUS, the Quad, bilateral and trilateral partnerships, ASEAN-led institutions and emerging security cooperation across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Assess burden sharing, interoperability, access, logistics, political commitments and credibility.
Maritime Security, Chokepoints and Grey-Zone Competition
Analyse the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, East China Sea and critical maritime corridors connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Examine coast-guard operations, maritime militia, coercive presence, lawfare, blockades, quarantines, salami slicing, chokepoints and sea lines of communication.
Economic, Technology and Infrastructure Security
Examine economic coercion, critical minerals, semiconductor competition, export controls, supply chains, cyber infrastructure, artificial intelligence, space systems, telecommunications and submarine cables. Consider how economic integration can simultaneously create prosperity, dependence and coercive leverage.
Crisis Statecraft and Regional Security Futures
Integrate the course through strategic signalling, coercive diplomacy, reassurance, crisis management, escalation control and policy choice. Examine how governments define objectives, select instruments, anticipate counter-moves and respond when desired outcomes exceed available power.
Grounded in the security environment as it changes
Teaching draws on IPSC Strategic Intelligence Unit monitoring and research-centre analysis. Participants apply course concepts to contemporary Indo-Pacific strategic problems, rather than relying only on retrospective case studies.
Cross-Strait Security
PLA activity, coercive signalling, blockade and quarantine concepts, deterrence and changing strategic baselines.
Chinese Military Power
Force modernisation, operational activity, readiness, power projection and the strategic effects of growing capability.
Deterrence and Denial
Force posture, credibility, alliance commitments, escalation control and regional deterrence architectures.
Grey-Zone Competition
Maritime coercion, coast-guard activity, cumulative pressure, salami slicing and activity below the threshold of armed conflict.
Chokepoints & Corridors
Maritime routes, ports, logistics, energy flows, submarine cables and strategic geographic leverage.
Economic & Technology Security
Critical minerals, semiconductors, supply chains, export controls, infrastructure and strategic dependencies.
Professionals who need to understand the Indo-Pacific security environment
No previous security-studies qualification is required. The program is suitable for participants who need a more structured understanding of regional security, strategic competition and state behaviour.
Policy & Diplomacy
Officials, advisers and diplomats interpreting strategic developments and their policy implications.
Defence & National Security
Defence and security professionals seeking wider regional strategic context for their work.
Researchers & Advisers
Analysts, researchers and consultants developing an Indo-Pacific security specialisation.
Business, Media & International Affairs
Professionals whose work requires informed interpretation of regional security and strategic competition.
Regional security understanding without duplicating IPSC's advanced strategy programs
Indo-Pacific Security is designed as a broad professional program in the regional security environment. It is distinct from IPSC's specialised geopolitical-risk programs and from the advanced Executive Certificate in Indo-Pacific Strategy & Statecraft.
Certificate in Indo-Pacific Security
Understand the regional strategic system: power, deterrence, alliances, maritime competition, economic security, technology and escalation.
Executive Certificate in Indo-Pacific Strategy & Statecraft
Move from understanding the security environment to advanced strategy formulation, policy choice, counter-move analysis and the development of defensible strategy under uncertainty.
First cohort begins Thursday, 15 October 2026
The program runs across six consecutive Thursdays. Regional live-session arrangements support participation across the Indo-Pacific and other major time zones.
| Session 1 | Thursday, 15 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Session 2 | Thursday, 22 October 2026 |
| Session 3 | Thursday, 29 October 2026 |
| Session 4 | Thursday, 5 November 2026 |
| Session 5 | Thursday, 12 November 2026 |
| Session 6 | Thursday, 19 November 2026 |
| Live session times | Regional session times are confirmed with cohort enrolment information. |
Before you enrol
Do I need previous Indo-Pacific or security experience?
No. The program establishes the principal concepts from the beginning while remaining suitable for professionals who already work with Indo-Pacific security or international affairs.
Is this an academic or practical program?
It is an applied professional program. Strategic concepts are introduced through concise teaching and then applied to contemporary Indo-Pacific cases, structured exercises and guided discussion.
How is this different from Geopolitical Risk Fundamentals?
Indo-Pacific Security focuses on the regional strategic environment: power, military capability, deterrence, alliances, maritime competition, economic security and state behaviour. Geopolitical Risk Fundamentals focuses on identifying geopolitical risk, mapping organisational exposure and producing decision-use risk assessments.
How is this different from the Executive Certificate in Indo-Pacific Strategy & Statecraft?
Indo-Pacific Security develops broad professional capability to understand and interpret the regional security system. The Executive Certificate in Indo-Pacific Strategy & Statecraft is an advanced program focused on strategy formulation, policy options, counter-moves and strategic decision-making.
What happens if I cannot attend one live session?
Course materials and session arrangements support participants who occasionally cannot attend a live session. Participants remain responsible for completing required learning and assessment tasks for certificate completion.
What is required to receive the certificate?
Participants complete the required learning materials, lesson checks and applied exercises and achieve an overall completion standard of 75%.
Can organisations enrol several participants?
Yes. Government agencies, universities, businesses and other institutions may contact IPSC regarding group participation, institutional invoicing or tailored cohort arrangements.
Certificate in Indo-Pacific Security
The standard program fee is US$295. Early registration is available at US$255 until 11.59 pm AEST on Sunday, 20 September 2026, or until the early-registration allocation is filled.