The Academic Advisory Council is composed of internationally renowned East Asia Summit countries' scholars and experts from universities, research institutions, the private sector, international organisations and non-governmental organisations.
The council provides advice and support to the Office of the President on:
| Prof Dr Peter Drysdale | Emeritus Professor Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University |
| Mr Pravin Kumar Agarwal | Director of The Energy and Resource Institute, India |
| Prof Kyoji Fukao | President of The Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) JETRO, Japan |
| Dr Shankaran Nambiar | Senior Research Fellow and Head, Policy Studies Division, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, Malaysia |
| Dr Hank Lim Giok-Hay (Chairman) | Senior Research Fellow of SIIA, Singapore |
| Prof Gary Richard Hawke | Emeritus Professor, Victoria University of Wellington, and Senior Fellow, NZ Institute of Economic Research, New Zealand |
| Prof Zhang Yuyan | Director, Professor, Institute of World Economics & Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), China |