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, academic bibliography, ... .


Professors

Prof. dr. Tom Sauer​

Professor (spokesperson of the research group) 

Research interests: International Security, esp. Nuclear Arms Control, Nuclear Proliferation, Nuclear Disarmament; Iran; North Korea; Missile Defense; Coercive Diplomacy; US foreign and defense policy


Prof. dr. Jorg Kustermans

Associate Professor

Research interests: International Relations Theory, International Authority, Conceptual History of Peace


Prof. dr. Dirk De Bièvre

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


Prof. dr. Marijn Hoijtink

Associate Professor

Research interests: technology and International Relations, military technology and innovation, militarism, data violence, digital International Relations, platform warfare, feminist/postcolonial approaches to EU security


Prof. dr. Jan Melissen 

Professor (part time) 

Research interests: Diplomacy in theory and practice; societization of diplomacy; innovation in diplomatic practice; the future of diplomacy.


Prof. dr. David Criekemans 

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


Prof. Kenneth Lasoen

Lecturer (part time) 

Research interests: National security, Belgian intelligence and security services (VSSE, ADIV/SGRS, CUTA), NATO/EU intelligence, intelligence analysis and collection, counterterrorism, counterintelligence and counterespionage (focus China and Russia), covert action, international cybersecurity, offensive cyber operations, insider threat, information warfare, defence policy, strategic culture.


Prof. dr. Stefanie Weil

Lecturer (part time)

Research interests: China and Global Governance, Comparative politics across China, European Union and the United States



Assistants/PhD Students/Collaborators

Zeger Verleye 

PhD student under supervision of prof. Jorg Kustermans

Research interests: history and theory of international relations; politics of emotions; politics of shame; Belgian (post)colonialism


Emile van Ommeren 

PhD student under supervision of prof. Dirk De Bièvre

Research interests: International Political Economy; Trade Policy; Dispute Settlement; Protectionism; Political Institutions; WTO


Robin Vanderborght 

PhD student under supervision of Prof. Tom Sauer

Research interests: International Relations Theory; International security; peace and war; emerging technologies; power politics; military and defense policies.


Scott Hamilton 

PhD student under supervision of prof. Dirk De Bièvre

Research interests:


Floor Doppen 

PhD student under supervision of prof. Dirk De Bièvre

Research interests: International Political Economy, State ownership, Trade policy


Frederik Stevens 

PhD student under supervision of prof. Dirk De Bièvre and prof. Peter Bursens

Research interests: Interest Groups, Lobbying, European Public Policy, Representation, Agenda-Setting


Hassan Süzen 

PhD student under supervision of prof. Tom Sauer

Research interests: Geopolitics, Great Power Competition, Political Warfare, Computational Predictive Modelling in International Relations


Jorge Hersschens

PhD student under supervision of prof. Tom Sauer

Research interests: geopolitics, international security, nuclear weapons, international norms, EU integration, radical right populism


Jon von Schmettow

PhD student under supervision of prof. Jorg Kustermans

Research interests: International Relations Theory, Peacebuilding, Conceptualizations of Peace and Care


Mao Runduo

PhD student under supervision of prof. Steffi Weil

Research interests: International Relations Theory, China's National Security Theory, International Order in the Indo-Pacific region, Political Systems and Intrastate Conflicts in Southeast Asia


Thierry Limpens

PhD student under supervision of prof. Tom Sauer

Research interests: Identity politics, religious radicalization, violent extremism, sufi political thought


Post-doctoral researchers

Dr. Elena Escalante-Block

Postdoctoral researcher

Research interests: EU Competition and State Aid Policy, European trade policy, Politicisation, Depoliticisation, Political Communication and Legitimacy.

Dr. Antonio Calcara

Postdoctoral researcher

Research interests: International Relations, Security Studies, International Political Economy, European Security and Defense, Defense Industries, Cybersecurity, Emerging Security Technologies


Dr. Clothilde Facon

Postdoctoral researcher

Research interests: humanitarianism, politics of aid, politicisation and depoliticisation, refugee governance, border policies, international organisations


Dr. Manuel Duran 
Collaborator
Research interests: diplomatic studies, paradiplomacy, diplomatic theory, diplomatic history en geopolitics


Students who obtained their PhD’s in recent years

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)

Sylvain Fanielle (November 2019), Preventing Radiological Terrorism: Securing Radioactive Sources in Hospitals (supervisor: Prof.Tom Sauer)

Brecht Volders (October 2019), Building the Bomb: An organisational approach to the nuclear terrorism threat (supervisor: Prof. Tom Sauer)

Steven Spittaels (March 2019), Conflict Motivation Mapping: A tool to analyse the relative importance of armed groups' motivations (supervisor: Prof. Tom Sauer)

Navid Hassibi (January 2019), Change and inertia in U.S. nuclear weapons policy after the Cold War : the case of the Obama administration (supervisor: Prof. Tom Sauer)

Arjan Uilenreef (April 2017), Intra-EU Diplomacy. Dutch Bilateral Embassies in the European Union (supervisor: Prof. Jan Melissen)

Ingrid d’Hooge (October 2014), China's Public Diplomacy: Evolution and challenges (supervisor: Prof. Jan Melissen)

Manuel Duran (April 2014), Sub-state diplomacy as a motor of reterritorialization? The case of the Mediterranean region (supervisor: Prof. Jan Melissen and Prof. David Criekemans)

Jorg Kustermans (January 2013), Democratic Peace as Practice (supervisor: Prof. Tom Sauer)

Maaike Okano-Heijmans (2012), Economic Diplomacy and the National Interest: The Case of Japan (supervisor: Prof. Jan Melissen)