About

Dr Ashley Thomas Lenihan is both a policy professional and an academic, and the author of Balancing Power without Weapons. She is the Head of Policy and Engagement at the British Academy of Management (BAM), a visiting Fellow at the London School of Economic’s Centre for International Studies, an Associate at the foreign policy think tank LSE IDEAS, and a Senior Policy Advisor at the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) and its Campaign for Social Science. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in the US, and a member of the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee in the UK.

At LSE, her research focuses on the relationship between foreign direct investment and national security. Selected publications in this area include her book Balancing Power without Weapons: State Intervention into Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions(Cambridge University Press, 2018) and ‘Sovereign Wealth Funds and the Acquisition of Power‘ (New Political Economy, 2014). She is currently working on a project examining national security and foreign investment in the digital era.

At BAM and the AcSS, Dr Lenihan works on policy issues affecting the higher education and scientific research community, including the impact of Brexit on immigration, research funding, and international collaboration.

As an outgrowth of her work in the spheres of both public policy and academia, Dr Lenihan has also written about (and advised on) the relationship between academic research and the policymaking process in a number of countries globally. Selected co-edited books in this area include Sustaining Natural Resources in a Changing Environment (Routledge, 2018) and International and Interdisciplinary Insights into Evidence and Policy (Routledge, 2016).

Ashley was previously a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Law, Science & Global Security at Georgetown University. She began her career as an investment banking analyst with Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, and then Credit Suisse First Boston in London, with a focus on Aerospace and Defense M&A. She received both her Ph.D. in Government (with Distinction), and her B.S. in Foreign Service (with Honors, magna cum laude), from Georgetown University.

Email: a.lenihan@lse.ac.uk