Alex is a research fellow at the Lowy Institute and currently responsible for the Lowy Institute Poll on public opinion and foreign policy. Alex also researches Australia's diplomatic infrastructure, Australian and international public diplomacy, consular affairs, and leadership in Asia. She has co-authored major studies for the Lowy Institute on Australia’s diplomacy, including the 2011 Diplomatic Disrepair, with Andrew Shearer, and Consular Conundrum: the rising demands and diminishing means for assisting Australians overseas.

Alex is also currently conducting the Institute's ‘leadership mapping’ project tracing pathways to leadership in Asia, which has been awarded an Australian Research Council grant in conjunction with Griffith University and Yale University.

Alex was the University Medallist in law at UNSW and has bachelor degrees in Law and Science. Before joining the Institute, Alex was a senior associate at Mallesons Stephen Jaques Solicitors in Sydney, specialising in intellectual property and consumer law. She previously worked as an executive in marketing and advertising for multinationals Unilever and Leo Burnett Advertising.