I am a Senior Lecturer in International Relations the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow; Founder of the Ethics Governance Network; and a member of the UK Young Academy. 

My research studies how authoritarian states produce and project political power; the relationship between gender, citizenship, and state authority; and how these processes can be studied ethically—as well as the politics of how ethical determinations is made. My work has focused largely on Uganda, with a broader interest in how these processes unfold in the so-called “global South”.

In addition to research and teaching, I hold several advisory and editorial roles. I am an Associate Editor at Research Ethics; Reviews Editor at Civil Wars; and an Editorial Board Member at International Studies Review. I’m also a member of the UK Young Academy. 

Before joining Glasgow in 2024, I was a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of York (2023-24), where I served as Deputy Director of the White Rose’s Security, Conflict, and Justice Pathway, and worked on Departmental and Faculty-level recommendations for reforming ethics review processes at York. Prior to this role, I held a post-doctoral position and then an Ambizione Research Fellowship at the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy (2017-2023). I am a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics' Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa and at the University of Edinburgh’s Politics and International Relations Department. I hold a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

I am a recipient of the Fletcher School’s Alfred Rubin Prize in International Law (2011) and the International Studies Association’s Carl Beck award for innovative research on emergent international concerns (2017). My book, Arbitrary States: Social control and modern authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda (Oxford University Press, 2021), was a finalist for the African Studies Association’s Bethwell A. Ogot Prize.

My Initiatives

The Ethics Governance Network: In 2023, I Founded the Ethics Governance Network, a platform that facilitates exchange among scholars concerned with the regulation of research ethics in the social sciences. The Network connects diverse disciplinary and methodological views, fostering discussion about topics such as why and how regulatory practices, institutions, and norms emerge and diffuse; how they are implemented; and their practical implications – from whether and how they may foster more ethical research, to their potential censoring effects. Learn more about what we do and how you can join via our website: www.ethicsgovernancenetwork.com

Reviews at Civil Wars: I am reviews editor at Civil Wars. The reviews team at Civil Wars is committed to fostering reflective and robust discussion on cutting edge research as well as the politics of knowledge production in this sub-field. To do this, we first completed a systematic review of the reviews section at the journal, and developed a new approach to foster inclusion and diversity, while building space for critical reflection. We’ve introduced a series of new review types with these goals in mind. These include reviews of non-English language works (designed to bring in new voices and be available as a teaching tool), cultural reviews (of arts or other materials on civil war and political violence), and reviews and rejoinders. We welcome proposals for the section—if you have an idea, please get in touch.