Welcome! I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, where I serve as Co-Director of the Centre for Global Constitutionalism and sit on the Steering Committee of the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Research. I was previously a SSHRC Canada Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations and Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford (2013-15), and a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2012-13). I hold a PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
My research broadly concerns the interaction of international law and political power in shaping outcomes in global politics. Theoretically, I examine how actors create and seek to use institutions to further their interests and how these legal structures can in turn shape and constrain future policy choices in often unanticipated ways. Empirically, I explore this theme principally in the fields of disarmament (conventional weapons and space weaponisation) and international humanitarian and criminal law (the International Criminal Court). My teaching interests are informed by this research agenda, and span IR theory; international law, organisations, and governance; international security; and international justice.