For over a decade I’ve also had a parallel career in international parliamentary work. I've worked in diverse political contexts, from new and fragile democracies to fully non-democratic states.

I currently have two main roles, and take on other fun projects when I have time:

• Chief Technical Advisor for Global Partners Governance (GPG), an organisation that works to improve the quality and effectiveness of political institutions worldwide. GPG takes a unique approach that recognises political realities and behavioural incentives - putting people before process.
  In this role I oversee and contribute technical expertise to: a multi-year project in Albania to improve parliamentary oversight, an innovative project to improve women’s political leadership in Lebanese local governmentworking with male allies, and a parliamentary support project in Iraq.

• Senior Gender Advisor for INTER PARES, an EU-funded parliamentary strengthening project that shares experiences between EU parliaments and legislatures worldwide. I’ve provide expert advice on gender equality, including for parliaments in Malaysia, Bhutan, Chile, Niger, Uzbekistan, Botswana and Zambia.

My previous roles included:

• Knowledge exchange lead, Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (2020-2025)

• Senior researcher, Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (2010-2020)

• Research team leader/Lead technical advisor, UNDP Lao PDR (2023-25, secondment)

• Consultant, UNDP Ukraine (2017, secondment)

• Parliamentary advisor, UNDP Fiji (2016-17, secondment)

• Senior researcher, Scottish Parliament (2013, secondment)

Skills

• Leading complex research projects: I have designed and delivered research projects in complex political environments, including: leading a research team for the UN Development Programme to assess how well the National Assembly and People’s Provincial Assemblies in Laos worked for women; research on the impact of male allies on women’s political representation in Lebanon; and editing and contributing to a global study on gender-sensitive parliamentary reforms for International IDEA.
  In my parliamentary research role I supported more than 50 committee inquiries (on issues such as prisoner voting, refugee and asylum seeker policy, violence against women, the equality and human rights impact of Brexit and Covid, among many more), legislative and post-scrutiny, and annual budget scrutiny

• Driving institutional reforms and innovations: I reformed the Senedd’s approach to engaging with the research community, created a new way for MPs in Fiji to get impartial analysis on proposed legislation, and supported women MPs in Malaysia to push for reforms to make the parliament more gender-sensitive.

• Providing expert advice and analysis: I have provided expert advice to the EU’s INTER PARES parliamentary strengthening project for over five years. I sit on a range of boards including: the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Sensitive Parliament Advisory Group, the advisory board of the Global Community of Practice on Post-Legislative Scrutiny, and the International Advisory Board for the UKRI Research Capability Hub.

• Designing and delivering learning programmes: For more than a decade I’ve run training and designed learning materials for diverse audiences around the world. This includes MPs, parliamentary staff, civil society leaders, academics, and young people, on everything from how to achieve impact through academic research to the political and behavioural incentives around parliamentary oversight.