Dr Vlado Kmec

Vlado joined the VHI as a Research Affiliate in 2013 and as a Research Associate in 2017. At the University of Cambridge, Vlado supervises at the Department of Politics and International Studies where he is also a Research Associate at the European Centre. He is a coordinator of the Politics and International Relations course at Reach Cambridge summer programme at Trinity Hall and Downing College.

As a scholar educated in politics, international relations, peace and conflict studies, sociology, anthropology, religious studies and theology, Vlado researches various intersections of international affairs, social issues and religion. He carried out his research in Ireland, Germany, the Western Balkans, Mali, and in Brussels and New York. Vlado worked as a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College Dublin and as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Groningen. As a Peterhouse Scholar at the University of Cambridge, Vlado analysed the EU’s approach to peacebuilding within Common Security and Defence Policy operations and missions. As a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar, he carried out research on migration and religion at Trinity College Dublin. He was a visiting scholar at Humboldt University in Berlin and at Georg-August University in Göttingen. He studied at Trinity College Dublin, University of Ottawa, Comenius University of Bratislava, Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen and Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Vlado’s academic work is enriched by his previous professional experience with the United Nations (DPKO, UNMAS), international NGOs, the media, educational institutions and religious organisations. He has cooperated with and served as a board member of several academic associations and youth-based organisations. He has advised the UN, the EU (including the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the EU, and the European External Action Service), and other organisations.

For his research on the EU Common Security and Defence Policy as well as his European engagement, he was awarded the Special Award for European Security and Defence and the Medal of the President of France at the 2018 Berlin Security Conference.