Teaching matters to me because students, regardless of what they want to do after their studies, will have to make sense of contested claims about international politics, weigh evidence, and form their own judgment. This shapes how I teach. In my substantive courses, I aim to convey how issues in international security can be understood theoretically and studied empirically. I encourage students to question the literature rather than accepting it uncritically, paying attention to the reasoning behind different positions and the evidence for them. In my methods-related courses, I aim to educate students about available methodological approaches and to raise awareness of the consequences of methodological choices.
I believe that learning works best through active involvement. That is why my courses rely on discussions, group work, and projects in which students pursue their own research questions and receive feedback along the way. In my methods courses, I work closely with empirical studies that students then assess, question, and attempt to replicate. An open and respectful classroom is a necessary condition for successful teaching, and the range of backgrounds and perspectives students bring is an asset for constructive in-class discussions.
I teach political science courses for bachelor and master students as well as summer schools and workshops for PhD students, senior researchers, and faculty members. Besides substantive courses on international security and foreign policy analysis I also teach empirical research methods, especially Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in the R software environment. For the Master in Political Science at VU Amsterdam I developed a six-week module on QCA that introduces students to the foundations of the method in a hands-on manner. In 2025, Job van Lobenstein, who learned QCA in this module, received the Daniël Heinsius Thesis Prize of the Dutch and Flemish political science associations for a master thesis that applied QCA to the conditions under which freedom of religion is restricted.
At VU Amsterdam I supervise master theses in the LLM Law and Politics of International Security and in the Master in Political Science, mostly on questions of international security. My supervision focuses on helping students develop a researchable question and a suitable research design, and carry the project through to a well-argued conclusion. At VU Amsterdam and at previous institutions, I have supervised around 70 master theses and some two dozen bachelor theses, and I have served as second reader for around 40 further master theses (as of 2026). I also supervise PhD researchers as copromotor and serve on doctoral examination committees (see PhD supervision).
In 2020, I obtained the venia legendi from TU Munich and in 2024 I completed the Basiskwalificatie Onderwijs (BKO) at VU Amsterdam. I am currently pursuing the Seniorkwalificatie Onderwijs (SKO). I received two Teaching Excellence Awards from the University of Erfurt.
For a complete list of courses taught and information on PhD supervision, see below.