I am the John G. Winant Associate Professor of U.S. Foreign Policy at the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) of the University of Oxford. I am also a Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College and a Research Fellow of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC).

My research concerns international law and ethics in international relations, specifically in war. My current work investigates the legal, moral and military implications of "collateral damage". I specifically focus on US military practices. More generally, I am interested in how legal and moral imperatives interact with strategic thinking and technological developments to explain conduct in war and the development of armed conflict. I also work on IR theory, specifically constructivism and the intersection of explanatory IR theories with normative political theory.

I was previously employed as an Assistant Professor of Normative Political Theory at the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science. I hold a bachelor’s degree ‘with Honors’ from the Technical University Dresden in Germany and I have undertaken graduate studies in Cambridge, Princeton, and Oxford. My doctoral research was supported by the German Academic Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service and Merton College’s Domus Scholarship. The resulting dissertation has won two academic awards, the “Lord Bryce Prize for the Best Dissertation in International Relations and Comparative Politics” and Oxford University’s Daztursada Jal Pavry prize for an outstanding thesis in the area of international peace and understanding.

My first book appeared with Cambridge University Press as part of the series Cambridge Studies in International Relations in 2015. The book was Runner-Up for the Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship of the Society of Legal Scholars in 2016, and it has received an Honourable Mention by the Theory Section of the International Studies Association. My second (co-authored) book is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press as part of the series, Max Planck Trialogues on the Law of Peace and War. 
 

News

Next upcoming talk: "Who is Who: The Status of Persons and Direct Participation in Hostilities" with Clive Dow (FCO), International Humanitarian Law Expert Lecture Series, hosted by the Foreign and Common Wealth Office Legal Directorate, 24 of July, 12:30 pm, FCO 

Just appeared: "The Rights and Obligations of Parties to International Armed Conflicts: From Bilateralism but not Towards Community Interest?" in: Eyal Benvenisti and George Notle (eds.) Community Interests Across International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)  

Photo Credit: Catarina Heeckt (London School of Economics)