Dr Reuben Steff is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Waikato, where he teaches courses on New Zealand Foreign Policy, International Relations and Global Security. He is also a member of Te Puna Haumaru - NZ Institute for Security and Crime Science. Prior to his time in academia he spent 2.5 years working in the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. During this time he worked in the International Security and Disarmament and Strategic Policy Divisions.

His academic research stretches across a number of areas and includes the implications of Artificial Intelligence for the global balance of power, the intersection between nuclear deterrence theory/ballistic missile defence and the security dilemma, New Zealand and US foreign policy, and Great Power Competition between the US and China. He is the author of four books, including: (1) Emerging Technologies and International Security: Machines, the State and War (Routledge 2020), (2) US Foreign Policy in the Age of Trump: Drivers, Strategy and Tactics (Routledge, 2020), (3) Security at a Price: The International Politics of US Ballistic Missile Defense (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) and (4) Strategic Thinking, Deterrence and the US Ballistic Missile Defense Project: from Truman to Obama (Routledge, 2014).

He also has a number of journal articles published in the Journal of Strategic Studies, Pacific Review, Contemporary Security Policy, Defense and Security Analysis, New Zealand International Review, National Security Journal, Professional Journal of the Royal New Zealand Navy, and the Australian Journal of International Affairs.

I have participated in various policy development processes in New Zealand (for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet), attended a number of Academic-Government Roundtables on national security issues, and participated in track 1.5 and track 2 dialogues.