Oriana Skylar Mastro Keynote Speaker

Director of the Indo-Pacific Policy Lab at Stanford University and leading China strategist
US Air Force Reserve officer and three-time Individual Reservist of the Year recipient
Author of Upstart: How China Became a Great Power (2024)

Oriana Skylar Mastro's Biography

Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Courtesy Assistant Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Indo-Pacific Policy Lab at Stanford University where her research focuses on Chinese military and security policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, war termination, and coercive diplomacy.

She was previously an assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University.

She also continues to serve in the United States Air Force Reserve for which she works as Deputy Chief, Reserve China Global Strategy.

For her contributions to U.S. strategy in Asia, she won the Individual Reservist of the Year Award in 2016 (CGO) and 2022 (FGO), and 2024 (FGO)—making her a three-time Individual Reservist of the Year.

She has published widely, including in Foreign Affairs, International Security, International Studies Review, Journal of Strategic Studies, The Washington Quarterly, The Economist and The New York Times.

Her most recent book, Upstart: How China Became a Great Power (Oxford University Press, 2024), evaluates China’s approach to competition.

Her book, The Costs of Conversation: Obstacles to Peace Talks in Wartime, (Cornell University Press, 2019), won the 2020 American Political Science Association International Security Section Best Book by an Untenured Faculty Member.

She holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University.

China’s rise and the future of great power competition

US–China relations and international affairs

Indo-Pacific security and regional geopolitics

Military strategy, coercive diplomacy and conflict prevention

Taiwan, deterrence and the future of regional stability

She is one of the foremost experts on Chinese military strategy and Indo-Pacific security, helping leaders understand the geopolitical forces reshaping the balance of power in Asia and beyond.
She translates complex developments in China’s foreign policy, military modernisation and strategic ambitions into clear insights that help organisations assess risk and prepare for an increasingly competitive global environment.
She combines academic expertise with real-world national security experience, serving both as a leading scholar at Stanford University and as a senior strategist in the United States Air Force Reserve.
She has advised policymakers and contributed to some of the most influential debates on great-power competition, coercive diplomacy and the future of U.S.-China relations.
Her briefings help executives, investors and decision-makers anticipate geopolitical change, understand strategic competition and navigate the challenges of a more contested international order.