Dr. Natalie Sambhi is a Senior Policy Fellow with Asia Society Australia. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Verve Research, an independent think tank focussed on Southeast Asia, and a Non-resident Fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy Program.

Natalie holds a BA (Asian Studies) (Hons) from the University of Western Australia, a MA (International Relations) and Master of Diplomacy from the Australian National University, and a PhD from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, the Australian National University on the Indonesian military’s history.

Since 2022, Natalie has worked as an academic with Deakin University, convening modules for the Australian War College’s Defence and Strategic Studies Course (DSSC) and Australian Command and Staff Course (ACSC). She has previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre, as an Analyst and Managing Editor of ASPI’s blog, The Strategist, at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), the Australian Department of Defence, University of Canberra and for the academic journal Asian-Pacific Economic Literature. In May 2014 and in January 2016, Natalie was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington, DC.

Natalie has been a guest lecturer and presenter at the Australian National University, Australian National Security College, Australian War College, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Indonesian National Resilience Institute (LEMHANNAS), Indonesian Defense University, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Canadian Department of National Defence and several international think tanks and universities. Her writing has appeared in the National Bureau of Asian Research, Security Challenges journal, South China Morning Post, War On The Rocks, The Diplomat, The Interpreter and The National Interest.

Natalie has previously been involved with the Australian Institute of International Affairs ACT; the US-based Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) and was a founding member of ASPI’s Women in Defence and Security Network (WDSN). Follow her on Twitter @securityscholar.