An international relations scholar and foreign policy executive who serves as Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).
Prior to his leadership role at the EUISS, he served within the European External Action Service (EEAS) as Senior Advisor on Strategy and Communications to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP). His diplomatic career at the EEAS also included serving as Senior Advisor in the Asia-Pacific Department and Alternate EU Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) leader for the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) process, as well as serving in the Cabinet of HR/VP Catherine Ashton with portfolio responsibility for Asia, the Pacific, Turkey, and EU strategic partnerships.
Between 2005 and 2009, he worked for High Representative Javier Solana as his Personal Representative for Energy and Foreign Policy and as a Member of his Cabinet. Prior to joining European Union institutions, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER) in London, where he directed the institute's transatlantic program covering the full spectrum of U.S.-European relations.
He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Oxford and a Master's degree in Political Science from Leiden University in the Netherlands.