Dr Melanie Garson is the Cyber Policy & Tech Geopolitics Lead at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Her work focuses on cyber policy, the geopolitics AI, compute and the internet, the rise of tech companies as geopolitical actors, data governance as well as the intersection of disruptive tech, foreign policy, defence and diplomacy. She is also an Associate Professor in International Conflict Resolution & International Security in the Department of Political Science at University College London where she teaches about new and emerging technologies and the future of conflict in the digital age. She also teaches courses on international negotiation and tech diplomacy. Melanie presents regularly at international conferences globally on the implications of cyber, AI and emerging technologies on geopolitics and foreign policy, as well as provides commentary in podcasts, webinars and at major media outlets including BBC, Sky, CNN, Fox News, France 24, and DeutscheWelle.

Melanie is an accredited mediator and has worked as a solicitor in the International Disputes department of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. She received her PhD from University College London, and holds a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Medford, MA).