Associate Professor Lavina Lee is the Discipline Chair of Security Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney. From 2020-2023, she was appointed to the Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute by the Australian Defence Minister and was previously a Director of the Institute for Regional Security.

In 2022, Dr Lee became a non-resident fellow of the Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, as well as a non-resident Senior Fellow at the US Studies Centre (USSC) in Sydney. Prior to joining Macquarie University in 2007, she was a political risk consultant with Control Risks Group. 

Dr Lee is the author of the book US Hegemony and International Legitimacy: Norms Power and Followership in the Wars on Iraq (Routledge, 2010), and has published numerous articles, book chapters, research reports and commentary on security and strategy in the Indo-Pacific, Indian foreign and security policy, nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation, and the US-Australia alliance. She also periodically publishes opinion pieces in The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Hindustan Times, and the New Straits Times, as well as with specialist policy outlets such as the Lowy Interpreter and ASPI Strategist. 

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, the role of India in the Indo-Pacific and the implications of Chinese nuclear modernisation. Her work integrates academic and policy approaches, and she speaks widely to expert and lay audiences on international and security issues. 

Dr Lee has commerce and law degrees from the University of NSW, an MA in International Peace and Security from King’s College, the University of London (with distinction), and a PhD in International Relations from Sydney University. 

• Strategic and foreign relations in the Indo-Pacific (including the Quad)
• Chinese influence in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
• Australian foreign and defence policy
• Indian foreign, security and nuclear policy
• Democracy promotion in the Indo-Pacific
• The nuclear non-proliferation regime and nuclear disarmament
• Chinese nuclear modernisation and implications for extended deterrence
• The role of culture, norms and international law in international relations

PICT8050 Strategic Thinking

PICT2012 Modern Warfare

Previous courses taught: IRPG8570 International Law and Global Governance, IRPG8310 International Security, and IRPG1080 Introduction to Global Politics