Alena Drieschova is Lecturer in International Relations at Cardiff University. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and Master’s degrees from the University of Oxford and the University of Economics in Prague. She has been a visiting scholar at the International Water Management Institute based in Sri Lanka, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Oregon State University. She currently works on the role of material culture and technology in international relations, as well as on the role of diaspora communities in processes of nation-state formation. She has published journal articles among others in International Theory, Global Environmental Change, Climatic Change, and International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law, and Economics.