Ole Martin Stormoen is a PhD candidate in the research group on security and defense at NUPI, and is also an external candidate at RUG. His research area is foreign and defense policies, with an emphasis on Norway. His research interests also include international military operations, counter-terrorism, extremist ideology and radicalization, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa, and the Balkans.  Stormoen has studied Arabic at the University of Oslo, where he also completed his master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies. His thesis examined the literature on the causes of J ..read more

Tom Casier is Chair in Global Politics of Europe at the University of Groningen. Before he was Reader in International Relations at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies (BSIS). He led BSIS as Academic Director from 2014 to 2017 and was Director of the Global Europe Centre. He also held a Jean Monnet Chair. Tom Casier’s research focuses mainly on Russian foreign policy, EU–Russia relations, and the EU and its eastern neighbours. Recent articles have appeared in JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict ..read more

Dr. Eric Cezne is a postdoctoral researcher associated with the inFRONT: Inside Investment Frontiers of Sustainability Transitions project. His expertise lies at the intersections of International Relations and Development Studies, underpinned by an interest in the politics of the Global South and South–South relations (broadly interpreted), particularly in contexts shaped by infrastructural development, natural resource extraction, and sustainability transitions ..read more

Tony van der Togt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Clingendael Russia and Eastern Europe Centre in The Hague. After studying contemporary history in Amsterdam (Free University) and Nijmegen, he had a long career as a Dutch diplomat, dealing with Eastern Europe and Central Asia, both in The Hague and in Moscow, Almaty and as Dutch Consul-General in St. Petersburg. In 2013 he acted as Dutch co-ordinator of the Netherlands-Russia bilateral year. He has published widely on EU-Russia relations, the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Dutch-Russian bilateral relations and the Eurasian Economic Union. He als ..read more

Our guest is Fuad Shahbazov. He is a Baku-based policy analyst. He holds a master's degree in Political Science from the University of Vytautas Magnus (2016), a professional master's degree in Terrorism and Countering Religious Radicalization from the University of Bergamo (2021), and another master's degree in Defense and Diplomacy from the University of Durham (2022). His expertise area covers regional security, energy diplomacy and defense-related issues ..read more

Natalia Gavrilița served as the 15th Prime Minister of Moldova between August 2021 and February 2023. She led the Government through multiple overlapping crises caused by the war in neighbouring Ukraine, while also advancing ambitious anti-corruption, economic, and governance reforms. During her time in office, Moldova received the largest influx of Ukrainian refugees of any European country, managed to diversify its energy market away from Russian gas, and became a candidate country to the European Union. Gavrilița is first Deputy Chairwoman of the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity ..read more

Nathan Hutson is an Assistant Professor of urban planning at the University of North Texas. His research focuses on freight infrastructure coordination and its role in economic development. He has fifteen years of freight planning research and consulting experience. Over the last year he has worked extensively with the World Bank and the Ro3kvit Urban Coalition for Ukraine in assessing the impact on the Ukraine invasion on supply chains and implications for Ukrainian reconstruction. He holds a PhD in Urban Planning and Development from the University of Southern California. In the Fall he will ..read more

Hugo Rasch: a criminologist turned investigative journalist at Follow Money ..read more

Dr. Francesco Giumelli (Deputy Head of Department, Associate Professor in International Relations and International Organization at the University of Groningen). Expertise: International sanctions, EU Foreign Policy, Illicit Trade ..read more

Our guest: Dr. Donya Ahmadi is an Iranian-Dutch intersectional feminist and Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Groningen. Her current research project concerns the (re)-gendering of contemporary Iranian historiography, through documenting and highlighting the crucial role played by women activists in the political developments of 20th and 21st century Iran ..read more