She completed her doctorate in Political Science at the University of Washington in 2014, and her expertise lies in political violence, institutions, law, poverty, and gender.

She co-directs the Women's Rights After War project, a project that falls under LSE’s Gender Justice and Security HUB, and is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund. Using a variety of research methods, the project evaluates the lived realities of post-war gender reforms efforts as they are experienced by women from different class, ethnic, racial, religious, or other backgrounds.

Dr Lake also co-convenes the Advancing Research on Conflict consortium, which runs a summer field methods program for doctoral students preparing to embark on field research in volatile or conflict-affected research sites.

Her research is published in the American Political Science Review, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, World Development, Law and Society Review, the Annual Review of Political Science, the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, and Gender & Society, among other outlets. Her 2018 book Strong NGOs and Weak States: Pursuing Gender Justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa was published by Cambridge University Press.

Dr Lake has worked as a consultant with organisations including USAID, The World Bank, Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee, Berkeley School of Law and the International Law and Policy Institute. She regularly provides expert testimony in asylum cases and has written extensively on the ethics and practicalities of field research in violence-affected settings.

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