Sanne Verschuren is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at Brown University and a predoctoral fellow with the International Security Program. Her research interests include the development of military technology, shifts in military strategy and tactics, and the role of ideas and norms therein. Her dissertation examines why and how states decide to procure different weapon capabilities within similar military domains. More specifically, she seeks to understand the politics behind the development and operationalization of air power (1920s–1930s), aircraft carriers (1950s–1960s), and missile defenses (1990s–today) in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and India.

Sanne's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, and the Belgian American Education Foundation, among others. Beyond the dissertation, she also works on questions about the global arms trade, trends in armament and disarmament, the politics of deterrence, and the intersection between the study of conventional capabilities and nuclear weapons.

Sanne holds a LL.B. and LL.M. from Ghent University and received a M.Sc. in the Politics of Conflict, Rights and Justice from the School of Oriental and African Studies, as well as M.A. in Political Science from Brown University. Prior to graduate school, she interned with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, the Flemish Peace Institute, and the Centre for the International Politics of Conflict, Rights, and Justice. Finally, Sanne has been a guest researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.