Academic Board

Professor Marc Bossuyt is the President of the Academic & Scientific Board of CERIS (since 2016). He is ” docteur en droit ” of the University of Ghent and ” docteur ès sciences politiques ” of the University of Geneva. He is a specialist in the field of international law and human rights. He has consecutively performed the following functions: Human Rights Officer at the United Nations (1975-1977); member (1981-1985, 1992-1999, 2004-2006) and president (2006) of the UN Sub-Commission on the Protection and the Promotion of Human Rights; representative of Belgium (1986-1991) and president (1989) of the UN Commission on Human Rights; member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2000-2003; 2014-); Commissioner General for refugees and stateless persons (1987-1997); member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (since 2004). Professor Marc Bossuyt is also Emeritus Professor of the University of Antwerp (since 2007) and Emeritus President of the Constitutional Court of Belgium (since 2014). [read more]

Bertrand Badie is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Sciences Po Paris and former vice-president of Executive Committee of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). He is one of the most renowned French specialists in international relations. He has published more than 25 books which have been translated into many languages. Professor Badie is a one of the general editors of The International Encyclopedia of Political Science. He is also a member of the advisory board of several journals: European Review of International Studies (Chairman), International Journal of Human Rights, Journal of International Relations and Development, Contemporary Politics, Brazilian Journal of Strategy and International Relations, Etudes Internationales, Indian Journal of Law and International Affairs. Professor Badie has taught in many universities around the world: Universities of Lausanne, Geneva, Tunis, Rabat, Fès, Porto-Alegre, Bologna,… Bertrand Badie has authored almost forty publications, including “Nous ne sommes plus seuls au monde” (2016), “Quand le Sud réinvente le monde” (2018), “L’hégémonie contestée” (2019), “Handbook of Political Science” (in coll 2020) and “Rethinking International Relations”, his most recent book, published in 2020. [read more]

Mr. Nicholas Williams is the Vice President of the Academic Board of CERIS-ULB Diplomatic School of Brussels (since 2021). He had filled a series of policy and public communications posts in London and in NATO, including as speech writer to three NATO Secretary Generals. He began his career in the British Ministry of Defence working on defence policy and planning issues, with multiple secondments to NATO functions during the Cold War and to the French Ministry of Defence in its aftermath. From 1997 to 1999 he was Assistant Director for Counter-terrorism in the British Ministry of Defence. From 2000-2003 he was attached to the policy directorate of the French Ministry of Defence where he was responsible for developing NATO-EU relations and Franco-British defence cooperation. He was a long-serving member of NATO’s International Staff, most recently as Head of Operations for Afghanistan and Iraq. Prior to this, Nick served in senior positions in NATO, EU, and British missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Iraq. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for having negotiated the first post-Saddam provincial Council in Basra and, in 2007, he was awarded the Queen’s Medal for his distinguished services in Bosnia & Herzegovina. He is an experienced specialist in the field of security issues and conflict resolution. [read more]

Fawaz A. Gerges is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and holder of the Emirates Professorship in Contemporary Middle East Studies. He was also the inaugural Director of the LSE Middle East Centre from 2010 until 2013. He earned a doctorate from Oxford University and M.Sc. from the London School of Economics. Gerges has taught at Oxford, Harvard, and Columbia, and was a research scholar at Princeton and the chairholder of the Christian A. Johnson Chair in Middle Eastern Studies and International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College, New York. His special interests include Islam and the political process, social movements, including mainstream Islamist movements and jihadist groups (like the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda), Arab politics and Muslim politics in the 20th century, the international relations of the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, state and society in the Middle East, American foreign policy towards the Muslim world, the modern history of the Middle East, history of conflict, diplomacy and foreign policy, and historical sociology. Gerges’ upcoming book is The Hundred Years’ War for Control of the Middle East: From Sykes-Picot to the Deal of the Century (Princeton University Press (2021). [read more]

David Sogge is a researcher based in Amsterdam, where he is an Associate of the Transnational Institute. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, and advanced degrees in development studies from Princeton University and the Institute of Social Studies (The Hague). David works as an independent researcher and writer. A former member of TNI’s Board (2004-2014) and a former associate of the Norwegian think-tank NOREF, he serves as a guest lecturer in development studies at the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Brussels, as well as at academic encounters elsewhere, particularly in Brazil. Over a career that began in 1970, his professional activities have included numerous sojourns and research assignments in Africa, eastern Europe and Asia. He has held guest lectureships in Europe including the University of Amsterdam. Apart from African politics and civil society studies, foreign aid has been a particular focus, with chapters appearing in the Introduction to International Development Studies (Oxford University Press), The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Modern World, and the Handbook on the Economics of Foreign Aid. Among his books on foreign aid are Compassion and Calculation. The Business of Private Foreign Aid, Mozambique: Perspectives on Aid and the Civil Sector, and Give and Take. What’s the Matter with Foreign Aid. [read more]

Professor Christian Olsson is Associate Professor in IR at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He is director of its REPI (Recherche et Études en Politique Internationale) research unit in international relations as well as of its OMAM (Observatoire des Mondes Arabes et Musulmans) observatory of the Arab and Muslim worlds. He is member of the CREG (Centre de recherche sur l’expérience de guerre). He is associate editor of French journal of international political sociology Cultures & Conflits. Drawing in particular on (critical) security studies and sociological approaches, his research focuses on the colonial genealogies of contemporary military doctrine, the historical sociology of security practices and the role of private military companies in recent overseas military interventions, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq where he has carried out field-research. His recent publications include: ‘“Legitimate Violence” in the Prose of Counterinsurgency: An Impossible Necessity?’ (Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, May 2013). He is currently working on the internationalization of non-state armed groups. Recent work has been published in Critical Military Studies, Millenium, Cultures & Conflits and PArtecipazione e COnflitto. [read more]

Professor Theodore Trefon is the Vice-President of Scientific Board of CERIS (Since 2016). Professor Théodore Tréfonds is the Director of the Belgian Reference Centre for Expertise for Central Africa E-CA — CRE-AC) and heads the Contemporary History Section of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. He teaches at ERAIFT “Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires tropicaux” at the University of Kinshasa. His area of expertise covers DR Congo and he focuses on the issues of state-society relations, forest-city links, urban anthropology and environmental governance. He is also a Research Coordinator for the Forest-City Interface dimension of APFT. Among his published books we cite: Goma: Stories of Strength and Sorrow from Eastern Congo, Zed Books Ltd 2018, with Noël Kabuyaya; Congo’s Environmental Paradox. Potential and Predation in Land of Plenty, Zed Books Ltd 2016; Congo Masquerade. The Political Culture of Aid inefficiency and Reform Failure, African Arguments, Zed Books 2011 [read more]

Tanguy Struye de Swielande is professor in International relations at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) and at the Royal Military Academy, where he teachs Geopolitics, International Relations Théories and Foreign Policy Analysis. He also coordinates the Baillet Latour Chair “European Union-China”. Since september 2016, he is the Director of the “Centre d’Etude des Crises et des Conflits Internationaux” – CECRI. Professor Tanguy Struye de Swielande is the founder of “Genesys Network for Geopolitical Studies” and he is the co-founder of the “Réseau Multidisciplinaire d’Etudes Stratégiques”. He also research fellow at “Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations”. Born in Ghent on October 13, 1973, professor Tanguy Struye de Swielande graduated from specialized studies in political science and international relations at the Catholic University of Louvain. His area of expertise : great power’s relations, geopolitics, geoeconomy, foreign policy analysis, international relations, security and defense policy, new actors in international relations. [read more]

Professor Howard Nicholas is a Sri Lankan economist and social scientist, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. His areas of interest are non-neoclassical economics, capacity building for economics related policy and business decision making. Among his publications we cite: Macroeconomic dynamics of the Surinamese economy (Teaching case study, Lim A Po Institute, Suriname, 2009), ‘Inflation in Sri Lanka: Ideology vs reality’ (chapter contribution in felicitation volume for Prof. W.D. Lakshman. University of Colombo) ‘, in W.M. Wimalaratne (ed) The Economics of Professor W.D. Lakshman, (University of Colombo, 2008), “World Economic Crisis, Deflation, Recession, and the Coming Shift in the Balance of Global Economic Power” (Paper presented at Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Colombo, Sri Lanka, October, 2008). M. Nicholas publishes also in Development and Change, the revue of the ISS and is a contributor to several national and international journals, his comments concerning mainly the status and future evolutions of the Sri Lankan economy. [read more]

Professor Amelia Hadfield joined the University of Surrey in January 2019 as Head of the Department of Politics, and Chair in European and International Affairs. Previously she worked as Director of the Centre for European Studies (CEFEUS), a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Canterbury Christ Church Uni (2013-2018), after positions in Brussels at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and the Institute for European Studies, where she directed the Euromaster degree, as well as the Educational Development (EDU). Amelia is a long-standing Jean Monnet Chair in European Foreign Affairs, allowing her to successfully obtain Erasmus+ funding for the University of Surrey’s Centre for Britain and Europe (based in the Department of Politics), establishing it in 2020 as a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. Amelia’s researching, teaching, consulting & postgrad supervising covers a wide range of areas on EU foreign and security policy, as well as new forms of EU-UK relations. These include Common Foreign and Security Policy, Common Security and Defence Policy, EU-US and EU-Canada relations, EU-Russia relations, EU Neighbourhood Policy, EU Development policy (with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa), as well as Arctic & northern governance issues. [read more]

Jamie Shea is Professor of Strategy and Security within the Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter (since September 2018). He is also a Senior Fellow responsible for security and defence programmes at Friends of Europe and a Senior Advisor with the European Policy Centre.  Both of these think tanks are based in Brussels. He holds two other academic positions:  Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and Security at the Institute of European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Visiting Professor, Department of Politics at the University of Surrey. Jamie Shea also serves as Secretary General of the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC) and is an Associate Fellow of the International Security Programme at Chatham House, United Kingdom.  He is also a member of the Senior Mentors group, advising the NATO Special Operations Forces Headquarters at SHAPE, Belgium. Jamie Shea was awarded a CMG in the New Year’s Honours list 2020. From 1980 to 2018, Jamie Shea was a member of the International Staff of NATO in Brussels. His last position was Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. [read more]

Andrew M. Fischer is Associate Professor of Social Policy and Development Studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), and laureate of the European Research Council Starting Grant, which he won in the 2014 round. He is also the founding editor of a new book series recently signed with Oxford University Press entitled Critical Frontiers of International Development Studies. Dr. Fischer’s research and teaching are located at the intersections of development studies and social policy. His current ERC Starting Grant is on the political economy of externally financing social policy in developing countries, with a focus on the emerging social protection agenda among donors. The objective of the research is to deepen our understanding of the systemic political and economic challenges facing global redistribution towards poorer countries. His earlier work on the impact of Chinese regional development policies in the Tibetan areas of Western China (encompassing five provinces) is also well known for its critical engagement with concepts of social exclusion and marginalization within a context of rapid growth and socioeconomic transformation, viewed in particular through the interaction of changing education and employment systems. [read more]

Professor Joao Guimaraes is Senior Lecturer in Regional Planning at the Institute of Social Studies (The Hague), he is a Social and Regional Policy Expert. He is co-author of Buenas prácticas en la cooperación para el desarrollo. Rendición de cuentas y transparencia (Los Libros de La Catarata, 2008), Por Fin, La Pobreza? Informe de País – Nicaragua (Research Report for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, 2008) and ‘Las Estrategias de Reducción de la Pobreza: Un Apunte Crítico’, in E. Echart, L. Miguel Puerto and J. Angel Sotillo (eds) Globalización, Pobreza y Desarrollo: Los Retos de la Cooperación Internacional, (Los Libros de La Catarata, 2005, pp.313-332), etc. He is a visiting teacher at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. [read more]