Sophia Gaston is a London-based foreign policy expert. Her research focuses on strengthening the resilience and competitiveness of advanced liberal democracies in a turbulent geopolitical era, with a particular focus on British strategic advantage.

​​She is a Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Statecraft and National Security at King's College London and was the UK Foreign Policy Lead for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 

​Sophia is the Founder and Lead of the AUKUS Industry Forum, a dialogue and education hub which brings together British defence, security and technology firms with a stake in the trilateral project, along with senior Government officials, Parliamentarians and academia.

​​​​​Sophia is an expert in key contemporary national security issues, including the rise of China and Russia's evolving strategic intentions. She has co-authored several landmark research papers on the UK-China relationship with Professor Rana Mitter, and, having previously conducted research in Ukraine, continues to advocate for a strong British and Western role in its defence and reconstruction. She provides strategic foresight on national and global trends, with a specific emphasis on the coming together of economic and national security objectives, and the impact of technological change on geopolitics. Sophia is a strong advocate for the doctrine of 'indivisibility' between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security theatres, highlighting their interdependence and connectivity, and works on Britain's key relationships in supporting this integration agenda.

​​Sophia spent two years as Head of Foreign Policy and UK Resilience at the leading Westminster think tank, Policy Exchange. Prior to that, she served for three years as the Director of the British Foreign Policy Group. She has also been a Research Member at the University of Oxford and spent several years as a Visiting Fellow and Head of Research for the Arena Unit in the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science.