Dr Arian is a postdoctoral research associate at the Centre for Geopolitics and a college research associate at King’s College Cambridge University. She has a PhD in International Relations from the University of Groningen and has been a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of History of Science at the University of Erfurt. She has also worked as a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Erfurt and at the University of Groningen, and has been a visiting scholar at the Department of Global History and the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut of the Freie Universität Berlin, the Department of International Relations at Universidad de San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, and at the Orient Institute Beirut of the Max Weber Foundation in Lebanon.
Her research focuses on the history and theory of international relations, on global encounters, connectivities, and historical and intellectual entanglements, and on questions about knowledge formation, epistemic practices, and (onto-)epistemologies, and their interlinkages with the realm of politics, the exercise of power, and the institution and governance of political orders in the Islamic/Eurasia world and the Indian Ocean region. Dr. Arian’s research is...
Hugo Bromley is a historian of English manufacturing and British political economy and geopolitics, focusing on the early eighteenth century. His recently submitted PhD, completed at Cambridge, looked at how textile manufacturers and their employees shaped the formation of Britain after 1688, and the role of the British state in the global economy immediately before the Industrial Revolution. At the Centre, he will coordinate the forthcoming project on the applied history of the UK Union, as well as continuing his own research. He has also been appointed as an affiliated postdoctoral research associate at Robinson College.
Hugo previously worked for the Centre as a Research Assistant on the Baltic Geopolitics Programme, which he will continue to support. He also hosted a short podcast series on the Geopolitics of Finance, which is available online at On Geopolitics. He completed his undergraduate studies at the LSE and his MPhil at here at Cambridge. Away from academia, he has worked as a researcher at the International Financial Law Review and as a reporter at IFLR Practice Insight.
Dr Figueroa joined the Centre in 2022 as a postdoctoral research associate. He holds a PhD in History and a Masters in East Asian Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a BA in Anthropology and Asian Studies from Rice University. His research interests include Iran-China relations, modern Iranian and Chinese history and society, historical and contemporary Sino-Iranian and Sino-Middle Eastern relations, Maoism, Cold War history, and the Global 1960s. His dissertation, ‘China and the Iranian Left: Transnational Networks of Social, Cultural, and Ideological Exchange,’ explores connections between Iranian and Chinese constitutionalists, socialists, and Maoists from the early 1900s to the late 1970s, and forms the basis of his current book project. His recent publications include ‘Performative Diplomacy: Iran–Republic of China Relations, 1920–1949’ in Iranian Studies and ‘China and the Iranian Revolution: New Perspectives on Sino-Iranian Relations, 1965–1979’ in Asian Affairs. He has also written about contemporary Sino-Iranian, Sino-Israeli, and Sino-Palestinian relations for outlets like The Diplomat, Jadaliyya, and Bourse and Bazaar.
Michelle is responsible for the planning and delivery of the Centre's communications and events programme. Michelle started her career as a print advertising account manager, before expanding into digital advertising, event management, event sponsorship, communications and multi-platform campaign management.
Dr Kupciunas joined the Centre in 2021 as a postdoctoral research associate. He holds a DPhil in History at the University of Oxford, a Master of Laws in Public International Law at Leiden University, a Master of Arts in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University, and a BA in Political Science at Vilnius University. His research interests include modern international history, relations between East/Central and Western Europe in the interwar period, cultural and intellectual history of diplomacy, geopolitics of the Baltic sea region, international law of global security and contemporary Russian foreign policy. Dr. Kupciunas forthcoming book `The Devil’s Paradise: the Vilnius conflict in European diplomacy, 1919-1923` is forthcoming with Oxford University Press. In addition to running the Centre’s Baltic Geopolitics strand, Dr. Kupciunas co-teaches the MPhil course on the History of European Geopolitics and supervises undergraduate students on the subject of International Conflict, Order and Justice.
Eamonn O'Keeffe joined the Centre in October 2022 as the National Army Museum Junior Research Fellow in the History of the British Army. He recently submitted his DPhil thesis on military music during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars to the University of Oxford. A trustee of the Society for Army Historical Research, Eamonn has published several peer-reviewed articles and a new edition of the memoirs of Thomas Jackson, a Napoleonic-era soldier in the Coldstream Guards. His research interests include military music and duelling and honour among army officers as well as the broader connections between war, society, and geopolitics in the long eighteenth century. Eamonn has discussed his research widely in the media, including on the BBC family history series 'Who Do You Think You Are?'.
Charis has overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Centre, including managing the budgets, and is the main point of contact between the Centre, the University, and the wider world. Before joining the Centre, Charis was a motoring journalist and PR account director, cybersecurity copywriter, magazine editor – and motor racing team manager.