Dr. Lyons' research focuses on two inter-related areas: the intersection between gender, the state and civil society in Southeast Asia, and the intersection between citizenship, nationality and identity in the Riau Islands which form the borderlands between Singapore and Indonesia. Dr. Lyons is recognised as the leading scholar on the feminist movement in Singapore. Drawing on critical race theory and third world feminism, her research makes an important contribution to feminist theoretical work on coalition and alliance building within multi-racial, multi-class contexts.