Dr Lavina Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. In 2020, she was appointed to the Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute by the Defence Minister and was previously a Director of the Institute for Regional Security and a political risk consultant with Control Risks Group.  Dr Lee is the author of US Hegemony and International Legitimacy: Norms Power and Followership in the Wars on Iraq , and has published numerous articles, book chapters, research reports and commentary on maritime security and strategy in the Indo-Pacific, Indian foreign and security policy, nuclear proliferation, and the US-Australia alliance. She has led projects for the Australian government and think-tanks on opportunities and weaknesses of the ‘Quad’, Chinese influence in South-East Asia, the role of democracy promotion in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy and the role of India in the Indo-Pacific. She speaks widely on international and security issues.