Lisa is a DPhil candidate in International Relations at St Antony's College. Her research examines the securitisation of critical minerals within the context of US–China strategic competition, with a particular focus on their role in the AI and defence sectors. She is funded by the ESRC Grand Union DTP, St Antony's College, and the Department of Politics and International Relations.
Prior to her doctoral studies, Lisa worked as a Trainee Analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies and as a reporter on European affairs at CNN’s Paris Bureau. She holds an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford (2024) and a BA (Hons) from the University of Cambridge (2021), both awarded with Distinction.
Her professional experience includes roles as a Research Analyst at the Rift Valley Institute, Publications Manager at Institut Montaigne, Intelligence Analyst at Dragonfly Intelligence, Research Assistant at Cambridge’s Centre of African Studies, and Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Security Studies (Addis Ababa) and the African Union.
Lisa is currently contributing to the Deterrence Challenges in the High North project, funded by the UK Ministry of Defence and hosted by King’s College London’s Department of War Studies. In 2025, she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project, hosted by the University of Oslo and supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Her writing has appeared in CNN, The New Statesman, The Cambridge Globalist, OxPol, and the LSE’s China Dialogues, among others.
