About Me
A lawyer and historian by training, I have varied research interests at the intersection of international law, peace and security studies, and global (human rights and legal) history. I draw on research methods from law and the social sciences. I was previously an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam Law School, and have also held teaching or research positions at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, New York University School of Law, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, University of Zurich, the Polish Academy of Sciences, Harvard Law School, Cambridge University's Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, Stellenbosch University, and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law. The Swiss National Science Foundation has supported my doctoral and postdoctoral research with four research grants and two special events grants.
Prior to my academic career, I gained several years of full-time work experience in human rights and security sector reform. In Libya, I advised the European Union's border assistance mission; in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I worked for the EU on justice reform with the Congolese National Police, Ministry of Justice and Parliament. In South Sudan and Sudan, I trained government officials, parliamentarians, attorneys and activists. In an academic capacity, I have also (part-time) consulted for and provided legal advice to governments, international organizations, international courts, and NGOs, including in the Central African Republic, Mali, South Sudan, DR Congo, Georgia, Ukraine, and Kosovo. I was previously a member of the United Nations Security Council Roster of Experts.
I work and write in English and in French. I am fluent in Polish and in German, and have a passive (reading) knowledge of Spanish and Russian. I can read some (baby) Arabic.
I hold a Ph.D. in international law from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (summa cum laude avec les félicitations du jury), and law and history degrees from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Columbia Law School in New York.