Fiona Cunningham is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Faculty Fellow at Perry World House and affiliated with the Center for the Study of Contemporary China and the Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Fiona’s research interests lie the intersection of technology and conflict, with an empirical focus on China. Fiona’s first book Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2024) examines China’s distinctive approach to the dilemma of coercing an adversary under the shadow of nuclear war, which relies on substitutes for nuclear threats.
Her research has appeared in academic and policy-oriented outlets including International Security, Security Studies, and The Washington Quarterly. She has held fellowships at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She has conducted fieldwork at the Renmin University of China, supported by a China Confucius Studies Program research fellowship. Her research has also been supported by the Korea National Commission for UNESCO, Ploughshares Fund, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, Stanton Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation.
Fiona is a research affiliate with the MIT Security Studies Program and holds nonresident affiliations with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and National Security College at the Australian National University.
Fiona received her Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT in 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney, both with first class honors. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University.
- International Security (PSCI 1401)
- Chinese Foreign Policy (PSCI 4450)
- Strategic Studies (PSCI 6401)
Books:
Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2024) Buy it here.
