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). He is also a member 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). 

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), a Research Affiliate and Global Futures Fellow at Georgetown University, and a Policy Advisor at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. 

Vestner’s research interests cover emerging technologies in international security and 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). 

Vestner holds a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), 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.