Dr. Lavina Lee is the Director of the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the United States Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney, where she leads research on the U.S.-Australia alliance, AUKUS, defense industrial cooperation, regional partnerships, and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific. She was previously an Associate Professor and Chair of Security Studies at Macquarie University and served on the Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (2020-2023). She has led think-tank and Australian government-funded projects on the Quad, Chinese influence in Southeast Asia, countering gray-zone activity, and the implications of Chinese nuclear modernization for U.S. extended nuclear deterrence. Dr. Lee is the author of US Hegemony and International Legitimacy: Norms, Powers and Followership in the Wars on Iraq (Routledge, 2010) and has published extensively on U.S.-China competition, Indo-Pacific security, deterrence, and Australian foreign policy. Her work bridges academic and policy audiences, and she regularly contributes commentary to major media outlets, including The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, and Nikkei Asia. Dr. Lee holds an M.A. from King’s College London and a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney.