Dr Elise Stephenson is the Deputy Director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, founded and chaired by former prime minister Julia Gillard. She is a multi award-winning gender equality researcher with an entrepreneurial background.

Elise's research focuses on gender, sexuality and leadership in frontier international relations, from researching space policy, to diplomacy, national security, intelligence, security vetting, international representation, and the Asia Pacific. She is the author of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)’s Landmark Study on Gender Equality in the Global Space Sector 2024. She was one of the co-convenors behind Australia’s first ever conference on gender equality and diversity in the space sector, Diversity at the Frontier: Gender Equality in Space in April 2023. She is a founding member of the Australian Space Diversity Alliance (ASDA). Elise’s first book, The Face of the Nation: Gendered Institutions in International Affairs is published by Oxford University Press and awarded the International Studies Association’s Bertha Lutz Prize – for best public writing on women in diplomacy. Elise is recognized by Google as one of Australia's Top 50 Outstanding LGBTIQ+ Leaders, the United Nations Australia Association as a Community Awardee, and myriad other external and academic awards, including being recipient of the Chancellor's Medal for Excellence in PhD Research, the University Medal for Excellence in Honours/Masters Research, and the Politics, Asian Studies and International Relations Medal for Excellence in her Undergraduate Studies. She is a 2022-23 Fulbright Scholar and Overall Outstanding Young Alumnus for 2020.