Lisa Klaassen is a DPhil student at the Oxford Internet Institute, specialising in the nexus of artificial intelligence and national security. Her research examines how technology companies shape the discourse and governance of AI within the context of US-China strategic competition, and explores the implications for middle powers. She is generously supported by the ESRC Grand Union DTP and St Antony’s College, Oxford.
Alongside her doctoral work, Lisa writes for CNN and serves as a Research Assistant with the UK Ministry of Defence and King’s Department of War Studies. Prior to her PhD, she worked as a Trainee Analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies, Publication Manager for Institut Montaigne, Intelligence Analyst at Dragonfly, and reported on European affairs at CNN’s Paris Bureau.
In 2025, Lisa was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project. She has also collaborated with the African Union and held a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies in Addis Ababa.
Lisa holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford (2024) and a BA (Hons) from the University of Cambridge (2021), both awarded with highest honours.
Lawfare, 09 April 2026
Anthropic’s appeals to constitutionalism and virtue-ethics risk obscuring where the power and accountability for shaping AI behavior lies.
Engelsberg Ideas, 18 March 2026
Two of Demis Hassabis’s favourite philosophers, Spinoza and Kant, help illuminate the conundrum: can AI turn chaotic data into intelligible, structured reality? OII doctoral researcher Lisa Klaassen explains more.
Engelsberg Ideas, 05 February 2026
OII DPhil student Lisa Klaassen explores Moltbook, a social network run entirely by AI agents, bots debate, cooperate, and form communities, forcing us to rethink what culture means.
