The Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (apctp.org) was founded in 1996 with 10 founding member countries and South Korea as the host nation. C.N. Yang served as the inaugural APCTP President until 2004 when R.B. Laughlin became the second President. The current seventh President is Yunkyu Bang. The APCTP relocated its headquarters from Seoul to POSTECH University in Pohang in 2001. It serves as an Asia-Pacific hub to host in-house junior research groups, organize workshops and facilitate collaboration and exchange of scientists as well as acting as a forum for regional scientific development and cooperation. Notably, the APCTP coordinates many joint activities with the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. The APCTP also hosts the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS) and financially supports the AAPPS Bulletin which is now published by Springer-Nature. Over the years the APCTP has grown to incorporate 17 member countries.

Bruce McKellar played an instrumental role in Australia becoming an APCTP founding member country. He served on the inaugural APCTP General Council and subsequently on the Board of Trustees through until his retirement in 2006. Paul Pearce has served on the Board of Trustees since 2007 and was Chair of the Board during 2013–2016. A number of other Australian scientists have also served on the General Council or have contributed to maintaining Australia’s strong ties with the APCTP over the years. The current Australian member of General Council is Peter Bouwknegt. Various institutions have contributed to the payment of Australia’s APCTP membership fees including Melbourne University, the Australian National University, COSNet and MASCOS. In recent years, the APCTP membership fees have been paid jointly by ANZAMP, MATRIX and the AIP.

For its part, the APCTP greatly values Australia’s membership and it has continued to strongly support many Australian activities and workshops, most recently, the ANZAMP annual meetings, the 12th APCTP Multiferroics Workshop at UNSW and the ANU International Physics Summer Schools. In addition, the APCTP supports Australian scientists participating in its sponsored conferences throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Young Australian scientists are encouraged to apply for postdoctoral positions at the APCTP and senior scientists are invited to visit the APCTP and to participate as organizers of its various activities and programs.

During the COVID pandemic, the APCTP has continued to offer a full program of scientific programs, lectures and seminars all of which are open to Zoom participation.