Robin Geiss

Robin Geiss (born November 8, 1974) is a German academic specializing in public international law. In 2021, he was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. Prior to this, Geiss held various academic appointments including as Swiss Chair of International Humanitarian Law at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and Director of the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security at the University of Glasgow.

Robin Geiss
Born	(1974-11-08) November 8, 1974
Nationality	German
Occupation	Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
Academic background
Education	Ph.D. in Law, University of Kiel LL.M. in International Legal Studies, New York University
Academic work
Discipline	International law and security
Main interests	International humanitarian law, emerging technologies, lethal autonomous weapon, cyber security

Early life and education

Geiss studied law at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Kiel (Ph.D. 2003) and at the New York University (LL.M. 2004). He has been a scholar of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung) and the recipient of a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Career

Prior to his appointment as Director of UNIDIR, Geiss was Professor of International Law and Security and Director of the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security (GCILS) at the University of Glasgow where he retains a role as Affiliate Professor at the School of Law. He is the founding Director of the Erasmus Mundus Programme in International Law of Global Security, Peace and Development.

As Swiss Chair of International Humanitarian Law (2020–2021), Geiss initiated the “disruptive military technologies” workstream at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, and from 2017 to 2021 he was a visiting professor at the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po in Paris.

Other academic appointments have included visiting professor at the University of Vienna (2017), Professor of Public International and European Law at the University of Potsdam (2011–2013) and Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin (2016), and from 2014 to 2017 Geiss served as Research Project Director for the Collaborative Research Center “Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood” (SFB 700) at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Geiss was one of the international experts who, under the auspices of the Tallinn-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, drafted the "Tallinn Manual", which investigates how international law applies in cyber space. He also served as a member of the scientific advisory boards of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), the Leibniz Science Campus on Europe and America in the Modern World, the German Foundation for Peace Research and the German Red Cross’ National Committee on International Humanitarian Law. He is an ex officio member of the United Nations Secretary General's advisory board on Disarmament Matters.

From 2004 to 2005 and again from 2007 to 2010, Geiss worked as Legal Adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Legal Division and as ICRC delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council. From 2014 to 2021 he served as co-editor of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law.

See also

• United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
• International humanitarian law

Selected publications

• Geiss, Robin; Melzer, Nils, eds. (2021). The Oxford Handbook of the International Law of Global Security. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198827276.
• Geiss, Robin; Krieger, Heike, eds. (2020). The Legal Pluriverse Surrounding Multinational Military Operations. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198842965.
• Gasser, H.-P.; Melzer, Nils; Geiss, Robin (2020). International Humanitarian Law: An Introduction (original: Humanitäres Völkerrecht: Eine Einführung) (in German). Zurich: Schulthess Verlag. ISBN 9783725581665.
• Geiss, Robin; Zimmermann, Andreas; Haumer, Stefanie, eds. (2017). Humanizing the Laws of War: The Red Cross and the Development of International Humanitarian Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316759967.
• Bhuta, Nehal; Beck, Susanne; Geiss, Robin; Liu, Hin-Yan; Kress, Claus, eds. (2016). Autonomous Weapons Systems - Law, Ethics, Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316607657.
• Geiss, Robin (2015). The international law dimension of autonomous weapons systems (Report). Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation.
• Petrig, A.; Geiss, R. (2011). Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea: The Legal Framework for Counter-Piracy Operations in Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199609529.
• Geiss, R. (2010). "The conduct of hostilities in and via cyberspace". Proceedings of the American Society of International Law. 104: 371–374. doi:10.5305/procannmeetasil.104.0371. S2CID 159350441.

External links

• Profile on the website of the United Nations Institute of Disarmament Research
• Profile on the website of the University of Glasgow
• Profile on the website of the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security