Laura Southgate

Room: N820E   

Tel: 0121 204 4749

Email:  [email protected]

I joined Aston University’s School of Languages and Social Sciences in early 2018. Prior to this, I was Lecturer in International Security at Cranfield University, based at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, and Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

I received my PhD in International Relations from the University of Otago, New Zealand in 2015. I previously completed an MA International Relations and Security in 2009, and a BA Law and Politics in 2008, both at the University of Liverpool. My research specialises in the international relations and security of Southeast Asia, regionalism and the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), international relations theory and state sovereignty and intervention. 

I have published articles on these themes and wider security issues in journals such as The Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, International Politics and Intelligence and National Security. My book, titled ASEAN Resistance to Sovereignty Violation: Interests, Balancing and the Role of the Vanguard State, was published by Bristol University Press in May 2019. My current research projects are on US and Chinese foreign policy in Southeast Asia, the regional responses to the South China Sea dispute, and governance of hybrid or weakly democratic regimes in Southeast Asia. I am a recipient of an ESRC New Investigator Award investigating Disaster Impact, Risk Reduction and Regime Type in Southeast Asia, beginning in 2024.

International relations and security of Southeast Asia, Security studies, Regionalism, State Sovereignty and Intervention, International relations theory, Foreign policy, Governance and democratisation in Southeast Asia

ESRC New Investigator Grant 'Disaster Impact, Risk Reduction and Regime Type in Southeast Asia' (2024-2026)

• PhD International Relations (2015, University of Otago, Department of Politics)
• MA International Relations and Security (2009, University of Liverpool, Department of Politics)
• BA Law and Politics (2008, University of Liverpool, Department of Law and Department of Politics)
• PgCert in Academic Practice (2018, Cranfield University)

• LSS0US - Understanding the International System
• LP1030 - Concepts and Methods of International Relations
• LP2014 - International Relations: Theories and Issues
• LPM006 - International Relations Theory

I am available to supervise PhD’s that broadly sit within the fields of International Relations, Security and Defence Studies. Specific research topics may include:

• Southeast Asian international relations
• Southeast Asian security and defence studies
• Regionalism
• State sovereignty
• International relations theory
• Governance

Deputy Co-Director Aston Centre for Europe (ACE)