Research Interests

Chiara De Franco is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science and Director of the Centre for War Studies. De Franco's research - broadly conceived - builds on constructivist and practice theoretical approaches to International Relations and International Political Communication. She is the PI of Protection Complexity, an international research programme funded by the Danish Research Council. The project investigates how the EU, UN and AU practice protection of civilians in Mali, CAR and Somalia. For a full project description and list of collaborators visit www.protexproject.eu.  De Franco is currently also working towards the development of a new narrative approach to international practices.

Dr De Franco is the author of Warning about War (winner of the 2021 ISA Annual Best Book Award and of the 2021 ISA/ICOMM 2020 Annual Book Award), Media Power and the Transformation of War and several academic articles and co-editor of Forecasting, Warning and Transnational Risks.

Curriculum

Chiara De Franco (MRes PhD European University Institute; PGCAP King's College London) is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science and Director of the Centre for War Studies. Previously, she was research fellow at King's College London, deputy director of two ERC-funded projects - the Foresight Project and the Impact Tracer Project - and coordinator of the Task Force for the Improvement of the EU's Capabilities to Prevent Mass Atrocities. Her professional training includes a working experience at the UNDPKO, Situation Center, NYC Headquarters.

She is a member of the executive board of the Nordic International Studies Association (NISA), a member of the advisory board of Interdisciplinary Political Studies, a member of the editorial board of the Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies, an affiliated member of the European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, and an academic friend of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office. 

Research information

Dr De Franco's research builds on constructivist and practice-theoretical approaches to International Relations and pursues three interconnected research tracks: warning and prevention of conflict and mass atrocities, protection of civilians in conflict, and narratives in international practices.

De Franco seeks to supervise BA/MA and PhD dissertations on the following broad topics: The human protection regime, Practices of human protection - both armed and unarmed, Protection of Civilians (POC), Responsibility to Protect (R2P), Human Rights, Mass Atrocities Prevention, Human Security, EU integrated approach to security, Common  Security and Defence (CSDP) - both civilian and military missions, African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), UN Peacekeeping, Inter-organisational relations (particularly AU-EU and UN-EU relations), International Practice Theory, Diplomatic Practices, Conflict Early Warning, Conflict Prevention, Strategic Foresight Analysis, Religion in IR - particularly Papal diplomacy, Language in IR - particularly narratives in international practices, and (Old and New) Media’s role in warfare.