About Dr Heidi Maurer

Since April 2020 I am a Marie Curie Research fellow at SPAIS of the University of Bristol, leading the project “EuroDipl: the added value of European diplomacy coordination” under the supervision of Dr Ana Juncos.

I am also a Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Visiting Professor in European Diplomacy at the College of Europe in Bruges. Before joining Bristol I was the EU politics lecturer at the University of Oxford (2018-2020) and the LSE fellow in EU and International Organisations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2017-2018).

My research explains

• how and why states interact diplomatically in a poly-centric and networked 21st century environment
• what value and expectations they attach to their diplomatic interactions
• how their diplomatic approach balances between innovation and tradition.

In particular, I am interested to add conceptually and empirically to our understanding of how the EU (its member states, institutions and citizens) perceive the added value of cooperating diplomatically.

I am an elected committee member and trustee of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and I am co-convenor of the “Teaching the EU” Interest Section of the European Union Studies Association (EUSA). I have been the coordinator of the Jean-Monnet Network NORTIA: Network on Research and Teaching in EU foreign affairs (2017-2020). Till September 2020 I have also been member of the executive committee and since September 2017 convenor of the ECPR Standing Group “Teaching and Learning Politics“. 

Trained as a political scientist with a minor in communication science, I have been researching and teaching about European Foreign Policy, Europe´s role in the world, and European Union politics during the past years. I am, in particular, interested in the added value of European and international cooperation and changes in diplomacy. My current research investigates European diplomatic coordination, the role of EU delegations, and the way third parties relate to the European Union diplomatically. More generally, my aim is to contribute to the refinement of diplomatic studies in providing new conceptual insights and methodological tools. Next to my foreign policy interests, I have developed my expertise  in Problem-Based Learning through my work at Maastricht University, which I actively share within various networks.

In 2017/18 I was a Fellow in EU and International Organisations in the International Relations department of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Before joining LSE, I have been Assistant professor in European Studies d at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) at Maastricht University. I hold a Doctorate from the University of Vienna (Political Science) and obtained a postgraduate certificate in European integration at the Institute of Advanced Studies (2004-2007) in Vienna. During  2012/13 I was the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Fellow at the Center of Transatlantic Relations of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C.

I also greatly enjoy learning about modern communication and how to present research in an innovative manner, as well as traveling, rowing and engaging with politically interested people.

For more info please see my website.