Teaching

Teaching is a fundamental part of my career.

At the end of the 2023–24 academic year, I made the difficult decision to step away from teaching to accept a research-only position at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute. This was not a choice I made lightly, especially after more than three rewarding years teaching graduate students at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies – first as an Adjunct Professor, then as a Lecturer.

I accepted that transition because I wanted to become a better scholar and, ultimately, a better teacher. Research and teaching strengthen one another. The opportunity to build ambitious research projects, travel extensively, and work directly with policymakers and stakeholders – particularly in EU candidate countries and war-affected societies such as Ukraine – has deepened my understanding of the challenges I ask students to confront in the classroom.

For this reason, in 2025, I wholeheartedly accepted the invitation to return to teaching as Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, where I teach EU geopolitics and EU enlargement, and supervise MA Theses. These subjects are unfolding in real time. Teaching them requires students to think beyond disciplinary silos and engage with the practical dilemmas of strategy, governance, and international order.

My teaching sits at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations, and security studies. Across these fields, I seek to prepare the next generation of scholars and practitioners to approach global challenges with methodological rigour, theoretical imagination, and a strong sense of public relevance.

At Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe, I taught students how to work through the challenge of disentangling contemporary international political and economic crises. My courses were designed around a simple premise: understanding world politics requires both substantive knowledge and analytical discipline. I walked students through the logic of causal explanation and evidence-based policymaking, using contemporary challenges – from democratic backsliding and hybrid threats to war and geopolitical fragmentation – as empirical laboratories for learning.

This commitment to applied learning shapes my teaching philosophy more broadly. I favour concept-to-case pedagogy and experiential learning. My courses regularly incorporate policy memos, simulations, collaborative projects, and research design exercises. In courses on international security and conflict governance, I use Red Team/Blue Team simulations and crisis-management exercises to help students grapple with deterrence, escalation, and strategic decision-making under uncertainty. In teaching international organisations and global governance, I encourage students to engage directly with institutional design, legitimacy, and collective action problems through real mandates and contemporary policy debates.

My experience teaching online has also shaped how I approach the classroom. I was one of only two professors involved in designing Johns Hopkins SAIS’ first fully online Master’s programme. That experience strengthened my commitment to digitally enhanced pedagogy and the thoughtful use of technology and AI-supported learning environments to foster engagement and accessibility.

I have taught cohorts ranging from small seminars to classes of sixty students, online and in person, at graduate and doctoral level. At the European University Institute, I taught research design to first-year PhD students, guiding diverse cohorts through prospectus development and helping them identify theoretical and methodological strategies suited to their projects. This experience reinforced a conviction that continues to guide my mentoring: good teaching begins with understanding that students pursue different ambitions and require different forms of support.

Some of my students aim for academic careers. My role is to help them ask important questions and design research strategies capable of advancing scholarly debate. Others seek careers in diplomacy, policymaking, consulting, or international organisations. My responsibility is to help them communicate complex ideas clearly and translate analytical knowledge into forms relevant to decision-makers and stakeholders.

I am equally committed to inclusive teaching and mentorship. Diversity of experience, background, and perspective strengthens intellectual life. Throughout my teaching, I have worked to expand accessibility, mentor underconfident students, and integrate diverse voices into the classroom. Some of the most rewarding moments in my career have come from seeing students – particularly women and those from less privileged or politically unstable backgrounds – develop confidence in their analytical abilities and succeed in paths they initially doubted were open to them.