Joachim A. Koops is Chair of Security. His research focuses on Global Security Governance and the European Union’s foreign and security policies, the role of the United Nations, European Union, NATO (and their inter-organisational relations) in peace and security as well as crisis management, peacekeeping, the responsibility to protect (R2P) and the changing nature of diplomacy. In addition, Joachim is interested in issues of academic diplomacy as well as higher education innovation and reform.

More information about Joachim Koops

Joachim A. Koops is Chair of Security. Previously, he was Scientific Director (WD) of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University’s Campus in The Hague,  the Dean of Vesalius College of Global Affairs of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Director of the Global Governance Institute (GGI), Brussels. Joachim holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from the University of Oxford (UK), an MSc in European Politics, Economic and Law from the University of Turku, a Postgraduate Diploma/Common Professional Exam in Law from Oxford Brookes (UK), the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) from the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Kiel (Germany).

Joachim’s research focuses on Global Security Governance, European foreign policy and diplomacy and inter-organizational relations in peace and security (including peacekeeping, peacebuilding, crisis management and the responsibility to protect) with particular emphasis on the role of the European Union, NATO and United Nations. In the area of higher education policy and management, he is interested in academic reform, innovative teaching, quality assurance and the future of global education.

Between 2009 and 2012 Joachim held several advisor positions at international organizations. In 2009, he served as the Lessons Learned Advisor of the Chief of Staff of the Standby High Readiness Brigade for United Nations Operations (SHIRBRIG), in 2012 he worked at the partnership unit of the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York as well as the United Nations Liaison Office for Peace and Security (UNLOPS) in Brussels. In addition, he served as a member of the Dual Use Expert Group of the European Commission’s Ethics Committee.

Recent publications include: The Oxford Handbook of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015, with Norrie MacQueen, Thierry Tardy and Paul D. Williams), The Palgrave Handbook of Inter-organizational Relations in World Politics (Palgrave, 2017, with Rafael Biermann), European Approaches to United Nations Peacekeeping: Towards Stronger Re-engagement? (Routledge, 2018, with Giulia Tercovich), The European Union as a Diplomatic Actor (Palgrave, 2014, with Gjovalin Macaj) and Operationalising he Responsibility to Protect (Palgrave 2014, with Daniel Fiott). He published on Peacekeeping, UN rapid reaction and EU-NATO relations in journals such as International Peacekeeping, Contemporary Security Policy and European Security.

Joachim is open to supervise PhD students in the fields of EU, NATO and UN approaches to peace and security, inter-organizational relations in theory and practice as well as peacekeeping, peacebuilding and crisis management.

Grants and awards

• Rutherford International Strategic Fellowship – University of Warwick Interdisciplinary Research on the Global Governance of Technology in Security 12,000 Euros (June 2018 – September 2018).
• European Leadership in Cultural, Science and Innovation Diplomacy (EL-CSID) Funded by European Commission Horizon 2020. Project participant with partial funding of 130.000 Euros (March 2016 – March 2019).
• The European Union’s Relations with the International Monetary Fund in Global Economic Governance. 12.000 Euros Study commissioned by the European Parliament (January 2015 – October 2015).
• Europe’s Return to UN Peacekeeping? Collaborative Research Network (CRN) sponsored by the University Association of Cotemporary European Studies (UACES) – in cooperation with 10 leading think tanks. 7000 Euros (June 2014 – June 2017).
• INFOCORE - (IN)FORMING CONFLICT PREVENTION, RESPONSE AND RESOLUTION: THE R OLE OF M EDIA IN VIOLENT CONFLICT FP7 Project funded by the European Commission – 243,000 Euros (January 2014 – January 2017). Command and Control in Peacekeeping and Crisis Management: A comparative Analysis of UN, EU and NATO Approaches Funded by the French Ministry of Defence – 14,000 Euros (November 2012 – June 2013).
• The European Union as a Diplomatic Actor: Policies, Processes and Performance, in cooperation with the Institute for European Studies (IES), Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Interdisciplinary research project, involving lecture series and contributions from academic and policy-oriented partners. Output: Lecture Series and Edited Volume (published with PalgraveMacMillan). 9.000 Euros. (December 2009 – August 2012).
• The EU as a Global Actor in the UN Reform Process in cooperation with the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome and with a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation; Researcher, Project Manager and Coordinator; The Project focuses on a comprehensive a nalysis of the EU’s role in the UN Reform process in the fields of Military Crisis Management, Peacebuilding and Human Rights 190.000 Euros (August 2007 – August 2010).
• 10 Years of SHIRBRIG: Past Lessons and Future Potentials of the United Nations Standby High Readiness Brigade. With an external grant (14.000 Euros) from the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt: Abteilung für Vereinte Nationen und Globale Fragen). Project Coordinator and Principal Researcher. Output: Report for the German Foreign Office. Public version published by the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin (May 2007 – January 2008).
• Germany Ministry of Education – “Scholarship of Excellence for the Promotion of Young Talent” (Begabtenfoerderungswerk). Fully funded PhD Scholarship from the Germany Ministry of Education. 48.000 Euros ((April 2007 – April 2009).