I am a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Melbourne, teaching and researching in the fields of global conflict, international political economy, development and comparative politics. My research draws on over 10 years of fieldwork in the Middle East, Gulf and Sub-Saharan Africa, and focuses particularly on the internationalisation of states and conflicts. It is particularly interested in how transnational elites and diaspora populations affect state capacity and legitimacy and the international politics of states.

My forthcoming book, When Diaspora Rule the Homeland: The Real Political Economy of Return and Investment in Somalia and Other Fragile States, analyses how diaspora return and investment shapes state formation and the international politics of post-conflict and fragile states in important under-theorised ways. It challenges the prevailing hyper-optimistic narrative around 'diaspora developmentalism' by showing a more complex interaction between diaspora transnationalism and fragility. It draws on rich empirics collected from 2014-2021 and comparative secondary material.

As a Marie Curie Global Fellow (2023-2026) I will be looking at the comparative dynamics around diaspora return and investment in fragile and non-fragile states also conducting a more comprehensive analysis of the global political economy of diaspora financialisation. It will provide the first intellectual history, genealogy and ideational-programmatic account of diaspora financialisation and how it is has shaped the global political economy.   

Before joining Melbourne, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (the LSE). I hold a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford. 

I am also a Visiting Fellow at the LSE's Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa as well as a Research Associate at the University of Oxford's Martin School and the Netherland's Institute for International Relations. I serve as an advisor to the Crisis Fragility Reference Group at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) and as a member of the International Crisis Group’s Ambassador Council.

I have received funding for my research from the Economics and Social Research Council, World Bank, International Finance Corporation, European Union Commission, International Crisis Group, and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. My research has been referenced in The Economist, The East African, The Wall Street Journal, Deutsche Welle, Radio France International, The Conversation, Democracy in Africa and other media.