Dr Elise Stephenson is an award-winning political scientist and IR scholar, serving as the Deputy Director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, founded and chaired by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Her research focuses on gender and leadership in emerging fields of international relations, including space, AI, and climate policy, as well as diplomacy, national security, intelligence, security vetting, international representation, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Elise is particularly interested in understanding how states engage with the world and who leads these engagements. She was a 2022 Fulbright Scholar at the University of Washington and is affiliated with the National Security College and Griffith Asia Institute. Her book, The Face of the Nation: Gendered Institutions in International Affairs, has been published by Oxford University Press and will be launched in April 2024 by Australia's first female foreign minister, Julie Bishop.