Emily is a Sir Roland Wilson Scholar at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Her doctoral research focusses on the use of the Glomar (‘neither confirm nor deny’) response in the national security context. Emily has worked across multiple portfolios in the national security and criminal justice public policy space, including in law enforcement and cyber policy.

Emily’s PhD thesis seeks to understand the strategic function of the neither confirm nor deny principle, and how its practice in the security and intelligence context has evolved in Australia. This thesis will also examine how it has influenced Australia’s domestic policy and key security alliances, and under what circumstances governments choose avowal as an alternative. In so doing, this study will develop a conceptual understanding of the neither confirm nor deny principle to support an analysis of whether it is adapted to the contemporary security context.

Emily has appeared on the National Security Podcast examining secret statecraft (June 2022), and as a panel member speaking about the future of intelligence as part of the Australian Crisis Simulation Summit (December 2022).

Emily holds a Bachelor of Philosophy from the ANU, and was awarded First Class Honours for her research re-examining the cultural inheritance of contemporary metaphysical discourse.

Chair: Professor John Blaxland Supervisors: Dr Dominique Dalla-Pozza, Dr Sue Thompson, Dr Jean Bou