Wow. If you can write a dissertation on the politics of shark attacks as an IR specialist, I think you can do pretty much anything. From the Ted website:

Chris Neff is a third year PhD candidate in Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. He is conducting the world’s first doctoral dissertation on the politics of shark attacks.

Of course, I’m curious to know how this dissertation topic relates to IR precisely. (I get the comparative politics angle.) Perhaps Megan, who I believe teaches in his department and to whom I owe the incomparable joy of watching this clip, can shed some light… or can recruit Chris the Shark IR Specialist to do a guest post. But the real question is: how much time does Chris spend diving and surfing in his spare time? My guess is: plenty.