profile

Tobias Vestner is the Director of the Research and Policy Advice Department and the Head of the Security and Law Programme at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, a Fellow at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (NATO), and a Non-Resident Fellow at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Processes of International Negotiations Program (PIN), the Board of Directors of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War (ISMLLW), and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL). He serves as a reserve military legal adviser at the Swiss Armed Forces Staff.

Tobias Vestner’s research interests cover international security, the role of international law, multilateral negotiations and diplomacy, as well as strategic, legal, and ethical implications of emerging technologies. He has widely published on these and related topics, including the books ‘Ethical Dilemmas in the Global Defense Industry’ (OUP, 2023), ‘International Law and Policy on the Protection of Civilians’ (CUP, 2022), and ‘A Guide to International Disarmament Law’ (Routledge, 2019).

Tobias Vestner holds a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, a Master of Laws in International and European Law from the University of Geneva, and a Bachelor degree in Swiss law from the University of Lausanne.