Position 
Project Researcher
Nationality 
Belgium
At UNU-CRIS 
01/10/2011 to 29/02/2016
Research Interests 

Global and regional governance
UN mission and peace operations
Regional integration as a vehicle for peace
EU foreign policy

Education 

M.Sc. Public Policy and Human Development, Maastricht University and UNU-MERIT.
B.A. Political Science, University of Namur.

Biographical Statement 

Léonie Maes was Project Manager at UNU-CRIS. Since 2011, she has managed projects through their life cycle, from their initiation to their closure. Among the projects to which Léonie contributed are two large-scale research projects funded by the European Commission under its seventh framework programme (FP7), namely EU-GRASP and GR:EEN. Besides her project management responsibilities, she conducted research activities and contributed to programme management and strategic planning.

Léonie holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Human Development, with a specialisation in Social Policy Design, from the University of Maastricht and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Namur. Her Master's dissertation addressed the regional dimension of the international response to the 2011 Libyan conflict. Léonie takes a special interest in the UN mission and peace operations worldwide, the peacekeeping activities of regional organisations, and the EU foreign policy. She gained experience as a trainee at the Council of the European Union (General Secretariat- Directorate-General Foreign Affairs) and as a research intern at UNU-CRIS (Regional Peace and Security Research Programme).