United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 5 February 2021 the appointment of Robin Geiss of Germany as Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). He succeeds Renata Dwan of Ireland, to whom the Secretary-General expresses his gratitude for her dedicated service.
Mr. Geiss brings to the position close to twenty years of experience in peace and security, with focus on the impact of new technologies in these areas. Most recently, he served as Director of the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security at the University of Glasgow and as the Swiss Chair of International Humanitarian Law with the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He is a Visiting Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po in Paris.
He has managed large-scale research projects and held multiple posts in academia, including as Visiting Professor for the University of Vienna (2017), Distinguished Guest Professor for the Institute for International Peace and Armed Conflict in Bochum (2016), and Visiting Fellow for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin (2016). He was a Professor of Public International and European Law at the University of Potsdam (2011-2013) and Research Project Director for the Collaborative Research Center at the Freie Universität Berlin (2014-2017). He served as Legal Adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Legal Division for Geneva/New York (2007-2010) and Geneva (2004-2005).
Mr. Geiss holds a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Kiel and obtained a LL.M. in International Legal Studies from the New York University.
