Alumni Policy Weekend 2024

Professor Chris Alden teaches International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he is Deputy Head of the Department (PhD and Research). He is also Director of LSE IDEAS. He is a Research Associate with South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).

He is author/co-author of numerous books, including Apartheid’s Last Stand – the Rise and Fall of the South African Security State (Palgrave 1996), Mozambique and the Construction of the New African State (Palgrave 2003), South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Foreign Policy (Adelphi Paper IISS 2003), China in Africa (Zed 2007), Land, Liberation and Compromise in Southern Africa (Palgrave/Macmillan 2009) The South and World Politics (Palgrave 2010), Foreign Policy Analysis – New Approaches 2nd edition (Routledge 2017), and co-editor of China and Mozambique: from Comrades to Capitalist (Johannesburg: Jacana 2014), China Returns to Africa (Hurst 2008), China and Africa – Building Peace and Security Cooperation on the Continent (Palgrave 2017), New Directions in Africa-China Studies (Routledge 2019) as well as having written numerous articles in internationally recognised journals.

Professor Alden has held fellowships at Cambridge University, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo; Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto; Ecole Normale Superieure (Cachan), Paris; CERI, Paris; and University of Pretoria.

Dr. Aaron McKeil is Academic Director, Programme Convenor and Course Tutor on the MSc International Strategy and Diplomacy programme at LSE IDEAS. He also produced 'A Short History of IDEAS' in 2018 to celebrate LSE IDEAS' ten-year anniversary. 

He gained his PhD in International Relations from the LSE. He also holds an MSc International Relations Specialist with Distinction from Aberystwyth University and a B.A. Political Science from the University of British Columbia. He previously served as Editor for Millennium: Journal of International Studies and as a Research Assistant at the LSE Centre for International Studies.

Professor Michael Cox is a Founding Director of LSE IDEAS. He was Director of LSE IDEAS between 2008 and 2019 and now holds a senior fellowship. He is also Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE.

He was appointed to a Chair at the LSE in 2002, having previously held positions in the UK at The Queen's University of Belfast and the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth. He helped establish the Cold War Studies Centre at the LSE in 2004 and later co-founded LSE IDEAS in 2008 with Arne Westad.

Professor Cox, as well as his positions at LSE is Associate Fellow for the US and the Americas Programme at Chatham House, an advisor to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and as Guest Professor at CERIS. He regularly lectures to universities world-wide as well as to government bodies and many private companies. He has previously served as Chair of the United States Discussion Group at Chatham House, as Senior Fellow at the Nobel Institute in Oslo; as Visiting Professor at the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies in Canberra, Australia, and as Chair of the European Consortium for Political Research. 

Hugh Sandeman was an international banker for 30 years based in New York, Tokyo, London, and Frankfurt, and for the past decade has focused on India. He was previously Tokyo correspondent, international business editor and New York correspondent of The Economist.

Dimitrios Stroikos is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Space Policy, an international, interdisciplinary journal which draws on the fields of international relations, economics, history, aerospace studies, security studies, development studies, political science and ethics to provide discussion and analysis of space activities in their political, economic, industrial, legal, cultural and social contexts.

His research interests cover the global politics of outer space activities, space policy and space security, the international relations of the Indo-Pacific and Asian security, with particular reference to China and India; and technology and International Relations. His current work focuses on China and India as space powers and their engagement with global order in space.

Dimitrios has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses, including in the areas of International Relations, the International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Foreign Policy Analysis, Global Governance, and the Global Politics of Nuclear Weapons at the LSE and the University of York.

Christopher Dandeker is Emeritus Professor in the Department of War Studies, King's College London. He is a Fellow of the College as well as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He writes about civil-military relations and military personnel issues and has advised the UK’s and other armed forces, including those of Sweden. His most recent work has been on the NCO/Officer system.

Peter Watkins is a Non-Executive Member of the Board of the UK Space Agency; a Member of the Council of Cranfield University; a Visiting Professor, King's College London; a Visiting Senior Fellow, London School of Economics IDEAS; and an Associate Fellow, Chatham House. He was formerly the Director General Strategy & International (2017-18) and Director General Security Policy (2014-17) in the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). In these roles, he was responsible for strategic policy & planning; the Defence dimension of the UK's cross-government response to Russia and China; defence relations with NATO, the EU and with key bilateral allies; and defence policy aspects of cyber, space and novel technologies. Previous roles included Director General of the Defence Academy (2011-14); Director of Operational Policy (2008-11); Private Secretary to the Defence Secretary (2001-03) and Counsellor (Defence & Aerospace), British Embassy Bonn/Berlin (1996-2000). He was a Visiting Fellow, Harvard University (2006-07).

Katherine Urbáez, the Founder and Executive Director of the Health Diplomacy Alliance. She is a former diplomat from the Dominican Republic and throughout her career, she has been instrumental in numerous negotiations and developing public policies within various multilateral processes, focusing on health, human rights, and environmental issues.

With over 18 years of work in the multilateral sector, she has been the focal point for various national commissions and has chaired the Coordination of the 2016 Presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean (CELAC) States in Geneva and the Executive Board Membership to the World Health Organization.

Ms. Urbáez holds a Master of Science in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre & Maestra (PUCMM).

Carissa Bryce Christensen is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of BryceTech companies in the US and the UK. She previously co-founded defense contractor The Tauri Group, acquired by LMI in 2019, and quantum computing software firm QxBranch, acquired by Rigetti Computing in 2019. She is an active tech investor and has served on several early-stage boards.

Ms. Christensen is an internationally recognized expert on the satellite and space industry, known for rigorous analysis and innovative, data-driven strategy. She co-chairs the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Space, chairs the US board of the UN-affiliated Space Generation Advisory Council, and serves on the Advisory Council of the Aerospace Corporation Center for Space Policy and Strategy. She is a founding member of the Future Space Leaders Foundation and currently serves as Chair of the Advisory Board. She is a Senior Advisor to the annual US Space Force Schriever Wargame. Ms. Christensen previously served on the National Research Council Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable, which advises NASA, and the Space Committee of the Defense Innovation Board.

Ms. Christensen guest lectures at universities internationally, including Harvard Business School and the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. She has testified before Congress and Parliament committees on space markets. She publishes extensively, is often cited by major media outlets, and has appeared in commercial space documentaries by The Financial Times and Bloomberg.

Ms. Christensen is a graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School, where she specialized in science and technology policy. She attended the London School of Economics and was a Douglass Scholar at Rutgers University. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Ms. Christensen was named 2023 Executive of the Year (Up to $75M) at the Greater Washington GovCon Awards.

Remi Meehan is a doctoral researcher at CERI-Sciences Po. His doctoral research focuses on how states engage in public diplomacy in the digital space to expand their influence and counter disinformation. His research is especially focused on X (formerly Twitter), given its substantial if waning influence on political discourse online. Working with Christian Lequesne as his advisor, Remi is the inaugural recipient of the doctoral contract “DIPLOMATICA,” a joint effort of Sciences Po and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. Previously, Remi spent over a decade working as a trader and geopolitical risk manager at Morgan Stanley in New York, most recently as an Executive Director. At Morgan Stanley, he specialized in mining and defense sectors within developed and emerging markets. Remi holds a MSc. in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics and an A.B. in International Affairs from Princeton University in New Jersey.

Raffaele Trombetta was an Italian Diplomat until November 2023. He served as the Italian Ambassador in the United Kingdom between 2018 and 2022 and previously in Brazil between 2013 and 2016.

He was the Italian Prime Minister’s Sherpa to G7/G20 and in this role he coordinated the Italian G7 presidency in 2017. He has an in-depth experience on EU affairs having worked at the Italian Permanent Representative in Brussels and having headed the EU Directorate at the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. His postings include four years in China, where he was the Deputy Head of Mission.

Ambassador Trombetta is an LSE alumnus with a MSc in European Studies and he has been a Visiting Professor in practice, based in LSE IDEAS, since August 2023.

He is currently an Advisor on International issues working both in the United Kingdom and in Italy.

Nurolamin Abas is a strategist with extensive experience in corporate, government, and political sectors. In the corporate sector, Nurolamin has served in strategy and leadership roles particularly with focus on value creation programs for public listed companies. As an entrepreneur, he was able to successfully divest his engineering services company to a company owned by the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia.

As Managing Director of Jaza Consulting since 2006, Nurolamin has made contributions to national security, providing strategic advisory services in strategy execution, contingency planning and simulations.

As Principal and General Partner at Tuas Capital Pte Ltd in Singapore since 2016, he is involved in early-stage venture capital investments in financial technology.

Nurolamin's current interests lie in international strategy, particularly research on China's grand strategy and Xi Jinping's operational code, which he believes are crucial for navigating the complex geopolitical situation.