Jan Adams (diplomat)
Jan Elizabeth Adams AO PSM (born 1963) is a senior Australian public servant who has served as the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade since July 2022. Adams is also a former Australian diplomat who served as the Australian Ambassador to Japan since October 2020. She was previously the Australian Ambassador to China from February 2016 to August 2019.
Jan Adams
Early life and education[edit]
Adams, born in 1963, grew up in Wodonga, Victoria. She studied economics and law at Monash University in Melbourne.[1] She completed her economics studies in 1986 with a Bachelor of Economics (honours). In 1988 she worked at the Trade Directorate of the OECD in Paris,[2] before returning to Monash University to complete her law studies in 1992 with a Bachelor of Laws (honours). Her law honours thesis was on the topic "Applying the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to Environmental Law and Policy".
During her undergraduate studies, Adams focused on the governance of international trade. She worked as a research assistant to Professor Richard H. Snape in the Department of Economics at Monash University, particularly on the study Regional Trade Agreements: Implications and Options for Australia, which was published in 1993 by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.[3]
Awards[edit]
Adams received the Australian Public Service Medal (PSM) in 2007, awarded to her for public service in pursuing Australia's international objectives on trade and the environment, particularly the AP6.[11] She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday 2016 honours.[12]