About

Having adopted London as my home since 2012, I live in the Highbury neighbourhood of Islington while working four stops down the Piccadilly Line at SOAS. You can read more about what I do at SOAS on the Research page.

Before my current position, I undertook my PhD at the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Before that, my academic studies consisted of training in both area studies and international relations. For my undergraduate degree, I gained a first-class BA in Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (Japanese Studies) at Trinity College, Cambridge, including a year abroad at Doshisha University in Kyoto. I also gained a distinction-grade MA in Korean Studies and East Asian Politics (with intensive Korean language) at SOAS, including a summer abroad at Korea University in Seoul. In preparation for my PhD, I then undertook disciplinary training in IR at LSE – focusing in particular on IR theory, as well as receiving substantial methodology training – gaining a distinction-grade MSc in International Relations (Research), funded by an ESRC 1+3 studentship.

Between these undergraduate and postgraduate studies, I attended law school and qualified as a solicitor at the London law firm Slaughter and May, where I worked as an international competition lawyer. During my legal career, I also spent time working in Dubai, Brussels and Tokyo, including a six-month secondment to the Japanese firm Anderson Mori & Tomotsune. I ultimately decided to leave the profession in order to pursue a career in academia.