
Katherine Elgin
DAAD Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Katherine Kjellström Elgin is a DAAD Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). where she researches grand strategy, great power relations, alliance management, and national security-decision making processes. Regionally, she is an expert in Russia, Central Asia, and Scandinavia. She writes in particular about the Sino-Russian relationship, Russian foreign policy, and great power relations.
Elgin earned her Ph.D. in Public Affairs (Security Studies) from Princeton University's School of Public & International Affairs in 2020. At Princeton, Elgin served as the director of the Center for International Security Studies’ Strategic Education Initiative, leading the university’s program for educating, connecting, and mentoring students with an interest in national and international security. She is passionate about educating and inspiring the next generation of national security scholars and policymakers through immersive and engaging methods, including simulations and staff rides.
Elgin has also worked at the Brookings Institution and with a defense research firm in Washington, D.C. In 2019, she served as a visiting fellow at the Institute for Security & Development Policy in Stockholm, Sweden.
Elgin speaks Swedish, Russian, and French. In addition to the Ph.D., she holds an A.B. in Politics and an M.A. in Public Affairs from Princeton University.