Amaia Sánchez-Cacicedo is a graduate of Georgetown University and completed her PhD at the Politics and International Studies Department of the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her PhD research was focused on the role of external third parties in domestic conflict resolution processes using the 2002-06 Peace Process in Sri Lanka as a case study. The latter culminated in her first book Building States, Building Peace: Global and Regional Involvement in Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). Her current research interests lie on the normative aspect of the foreign policy of emerging countries with a regional focus on Asia. She has taught several courses on the International Relations of the BRICS at ITESO, Guadalajara, Mexico and at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.