Members
Below you can find all the members of the Research Group on International Politics and their research interests. On each member's personal page, you can find more information on their research projects and academic bibliography.
Professors
Professor
Research interests: International Security; Collective Security; European Security (war in Ukraine,…); Nuclear Deterrence, Arms Control, Proliferation, and Disarmament (Iran, N Korea, missile defense,…); Conventional Deterrence
© Selina De Maeyer
Associate Professor
Research interests: International Relations Theory, International Authority, Conceptual History of Peace
Professor
Research interests: International Relations and International Political Economy, European trade policy, trade politics in the World Trade Organization (WTO), interest groups, institutional design of the European Banking Union, the politics of global value chains, fragmentation and forum shopping in international regimes
Research Professor (Associate Professor)
Research interests: technology and International Relations, military technology and innovation, militarism, algorithmic violence, Big Tech in warfare, critical security studies, Science & Technology Studies, European security and defense, European technological sovereignty.
Professor (part time)
Research interests: Diplomacy in theory and practice; societization of diplomacy; innovation in diplomatic practice; the future of diplomacy.
Associate Professor (part time)
Research interests: Foreign policy (Flanders, Belgium, European Union), Energy and International Politics, Geopolitics and Geopolitical Analysis, Multilateral Policy-Making and Diplomacy, Theory and History of International Relations
Prof. dr. Elena Atanassova-Cornelis
Associate Professor (part time)
Research Interests: Japanese and Chinese Foreign Policy and Regional Strategy in East Asia; Institution Building, Cooperation and Regional Order in East Asia; US Strategy in East Asia, especially towards Japan, China and Taiwan; EU-Asia relations, including EU-China, EU-Japan, EU-ASEAN relations; International relations, traditional and non-traditional security challenges – missile and nuclear proliferation; energy, maritime and human security
Lecturer (part time)
Research interests: China and Global Governance, Comparative politics across China, European Union and the United States
Guest Professor
Research interests: US-China relations, European security, cyber resilience, International Relations theory, neoclassical realism.
Postdocs/Assistants/PhD Students/Collaborators
Postdoctoral researcher
Research interests: IPE & CPE, economic security, EU & Member State regulation of investment, state-firm relations, investment screening
Postdoctoral researcher
Research interests: humanitarianism, politics of aid, politicisation and depoliticisation, refugee governance, border policies, international organisations
Postdoctoral researcher
Research interests: politicization of EU trade agreement negotiations, coalition formation, policy paradigms.
FWO Postdoctoral researcher
Research interests: Interest Groups, Lobbying, European Public Policy, Representation, Agenda-Setting
Postdoctoral researcher
Research interests: International security; Critical Security Studies, Technology & War.
FWO Postdoctoral researcher
Research interests: International Political Economy; Food Security; Trade Policy; Monetary Policy; Political Mobilization; WTO
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
Guest lecturer
Research interests: theory and history of international relations, international political sociology, politics of emotions, (post-)imperial Belgium, politics of shame and shamelessness.
Guest lecturer
PhD student under supervision of prof. Tom Sauer
Research interests: Ukraine & NATO, post-Soviet spaces, critical security studies, international practice theory, critical military studies
© Jelle Jansegers
PhD student under supervision of prof. Tom Sauer
Research interests: geopolitics, international security, nuclear weapons, international norms, EU integration, radical right populism
PhD student under supervision of prof. Jorg Kustermans
Research interests: Violence and Reconciliation; Diplomacy; Total War and Genocide; Social Theories of International Relations; International History; German Foreign Policy
PhD student under supervision of prof. Jorg Kustermans
Research interests: International Relations Theory, Peacebuilding, Conceptualizations of Peace and Care
PhD student under supervision of prof. Tom Sauer
Research interests: insider threat, organizational security culture, critical infrastructure security, national security
Fer Avar
PhD student under supervision of prof. Marijn Hoijtink
PhD student under supervision of prof. Marijn Hoijtink
Collaborator
Research interests: EU Competition and State Aid Policy, European trade policy, Politicisation, Depoliticisation, Political Communication and Legitimacy.
Dr. Manuel Duran
Collaborator
Research interests: diplomatic studies, paradiplomacy, diplomatic theory, diplomatic history en geopolitics
Students who obtained their PhD’s in recent years
Floor Doppen (February 2026), Balancing Security and Economics. The Political Economy of Investment Screening in the EU (supervisor: Prof. Dirk De Bièvre)
Robin Vanderborght (September 2025), Visions of stability : nuclear legitimacy and the imaginary of technological peace (supervisor: Prof. Tom Sauer)
Scott Hamilton (September 2024), The politicization of European Union trade agreement negotiations (supervisor: Prof. Dirk De Bièvre)
Hasan Suzen (September 2024), Understanding the Changing Character of Political Warfare Which Employs Disruptive Technologies in Contemporary Great Power Competition (supervisor: Prof. Tom Sauer)
Zeger Verleye (March 2024), Empire in Disgrace: (Post-)Imperial Belgium and the Politics of Shame (supervisor: Prof. Jorg Kustermans)
Emile van Ommeren (November 2023), Pro Trade, Against Competition: Explaining Firms’ Support for Selective Trade Protection (supervisor: Prof. Dirk De Bièvre)
Rikkert Horemans (June 2023), Reconceptualizing Iran's Regional Influence: The Case for Authority (supervisor: Prof. Jorg Kustermans)
Phillip Lausberg (June 2023), European fiscal policy reforms, banking union and public goods theory (supervisor: Prof. Dirk De Bièvre)
Mathias Reveraert (May 2023), Exploring insider threat awareness and mitigation: more than the devil in disguise (supervisor: Prof. Tom Sauer)
Kenneth Lasoen (March 2023), Belgian strategic culture. A historical perspective on intelligence and security in Belgium (co-supervisors: Prof Tom Sauer en Prof Jorg Kustermans)
Jane Knight (September 2022), Towards a knowledge diplomacy framework : an analysis of the role of international higher education, research and innovation in international relations (supervisor: Prof. Jan Melissen)
Kim B. Olsen (November 2020), Networked Practices of European Geoeconomic Diplomacy: How Diplomatic Relations Shape the Implementation of Economic Sanctions (supervisor: Prof. Jan Melissen)
Antonios Nestoras (February 2020), Belonging to the West? Geopolitical Mythmaking in Modern Greece (supervisor: Prof. David Criekemans)