Research Overview

I am a Lecturer in International Relations and Diplomacy in the School of Global Affairs at the University of Lancaster where I teach undergraduate and postgraduate modules in International Relations, Russian (inter)national politics, as well as security and defence.

Prior to Lancaster I was a Lecturer in European Politics at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands where I taught on European Politics, EU external relations, European Security in the EU's neighbourhood and EU-Russian relations. Before working at the University of Groningen, I worked as a Senior Academic Assistant, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe's Natolin campus in Warsaw. I am also an external examiner at the College of Europe, Natolin. My research is at the intersection of European Studies and International Relations. My research examines EU-Russian diplomatic relations, EU external relations, and critical security studies. My research monograph examining the reasons for the deterioration of EU-Russian diplomacy published by Routledge in 2017 has been translated into Chinese by Hunan's People Publishing in 2021. The translation sold out.

The policy oriented nature of my research is reflected in the presentation of my research at the Foreign , Commonwealth and Development Office, US West Point Military Academy, and in a study evaluating EU financial assistance to EU neighbourhood countries commissioned by the European Commission's Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs. I was the editor of a policy brief on EU foreign Policy and diplomacy as well as the Director of a network for Early Career researchers at an international research consortium funded by the European Consortium in Science and Technology (COST ENTER 2019-2023). I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the International Studies Association, the working group on European security by the British International Studies Association and a member of the European International Studies Association.