Tobias Vestner

Tobias Vestner is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University.

He 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), where he oversees and manages the Center’s analysis and advice activities as well as researches and teaches on the nexus between security and law. He regularly advises governments, international organizations, and private firms on global security and legal issues as well as provides insights to various media, including the U.S. National Public Radio and NBC News. He is also the current Chair of the Steering Committee of the Processes of International Negotiations Program (PIN), a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War (ISMLLW), and a member of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL).

Before joining CISAC, Tobias Vestner was a Visiting Lecturer at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Exeter University, a Fellow at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (NATO), a Non-Resident Fellow at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), and a Research Affiliate and Global Futures Fellow at Georgetown University. He also worked as a Policy Advisor at the Export Control Policy Division of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, where he managed political and legal processes with regard to the export of conventional weapons and participated in the UN negotiations of the Arms Trade Treaty. Previously, while at the Law of Armed Conflict Section at the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports, he contributed to bilateral negotiations on military cooperation and trained military officers in the law of armed conflict.

Tobias Vestner’s current research focusses on emerging technologies in international security and international law, notably the law of armed conflict/international humanitarian law, as well as international institutions, negotiations, and processes. He has widely published on these and related topics, including the books ‘Ethical Dilemmas of 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 (IHEID), a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University, a Master of Laws (LLM) in International and European Law from the University of Geneva, and a Bachelor degree (LLB) in Swiss law from the University of Lausanne.