Teachers’ Team

Özlem Terzi (Module Coordinator):

Teacher of Lectures/ Seminars of REPAIR on the EU’s Arctic strategy and the impact of the European Green Deal for the Arctic region.

Dr. Özlem Terzi is Assistant Professor In international Relations.

She has studied at the London School of Economics for an MSc in European Studies with a Jean Monnet Scholarship (for Turkey) from the European Commission and has completed her PhD at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Before joining VU Amsterdam Özlem was a visiting researcher at College of Europe, Bruges at the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy. She has also been a junior scholar at the Zentrum für Europaeische Integrationsforschung of the University of Bonn with a DAAD Scholarship. Özlem has carried out research and published on the EU’s external relations including on EU enlargement, EU in international organisations, and EU-Turkey relations with several internal fundings from Istanbul University. Among others, she is the author of the European Union’s Influence on Turkish Foreign Policy (Routledge, 2010), and the co-editor of the Global Affairs (vol.7 no,2) Special Issue on Emotions in European Foreign Policy (2021). Özlem has been working on EU’s Arctic Strategy since 2020, and has been teaching extensively on EU governance, politics and policies in an international context since 2004. She is the Politics-track Coordinator of the Philosophy, Politics, Economics (PPE) Bachelor’s programme at VU Amsterdam. More on her work and publications can be found here: https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/özlem-terzi/publications/

Wolfgang Wagner:

Teacher of Lectures/ Seminars of REPAIR on security issues and geopolitics in the Arctic region.

Prof. Wagner is Chair in international Security and the Co-Director of the Law and Politics of International Security Master’s Programme at VU Amsterdam. He has been on advisory boards of Flemish Peace Institute and Peace Research Institute Frankfurt.

He has published extensively on European security and defence, international security, parliamentary control of security policies and party politics of military operations. Prof. Wagner has supervised many PhD candidates and served on PhD committees since 2010. He has also taught courses on the European Union Governance in an International Context. He has been a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin and the European University Institute in Berlin. He has previously received external research funding from Gerda Henkel Foundation, Spanish ministry of Defence and Berghof Stiftung. More on his research and publications can be found here: https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/wolfgangwagner

Tanja Aalberts:

Teacher of Lectures/ Seminars of REPAIR on international law in the Arctic.

Prof Aalberts is professor in Public International Law. She has a background in International Law and International Relations and published extensively on practices of transnational law, legal aspects of sovereignty claims, and the interplay between politics and law in global governance.

She has done research into the Svalbard Treaty, and has connections in the Arctic as deputy member of the Jan Christensen legat with the University of Svalbard. She has taught courses on Public International Law, Human Rights Law and Politics, and the Politics of Protection. She is the general editor of Leiden Journal of International Law. More on her work and publications can be found here: https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/te-tanja-aalberts

Gareth Davies:

Teacher of Lectures/ Seminars of REPAIR on legal aspects of the European Green Deal and the internal Market, as well as on EU Law and Climate Law.

Prof Davies is professor in European Union Law and Co-Director of the VU Amsterdam’s Interdisciplinary Centre for European Studies.

His research and teaching covers constitutional and socio-economic aspects of European integration, and also addresses the legality of climate engineering and the EU’s response to climate change. He has experience supervising PhDs involving EU law and the environment, and in 2010 was the recipient of an 800.000 euro VIDI award for research into EU trade law and environmental concerns. His publications can be found here: https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/gt-davies

Monica Tennberg:

Teacher of Lectures/ Seminars of REPAIR on governance of environment and natural resources as well as of indigenous issues in the Arctic.

Prof. Tennberg has also extensively published about sustainability related issues in the Arctic context. She is the convenor of the annual Northern Political Economy Symposium organized within the UArctic Thematic Network on Critical Arctic Studies, which she presides.

Being a Research Professor, her teaching focuses on courses directed at post-graduate students on the above-mentioned topics. She leads the Northern political economy research group at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland. Her publications can be found here: https://research.ulapland.fi/en/persons/monicatennberg/
publications/

Oscar Widerberg:

Teacher of Lectures/ Seminars of REPAIR on sustainability governance.

Dr. Widerberg’s research and teaching focus on global sustainability governance, in particular the transnational causes and consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss.

He is the program director for the Environment and Resource Master (ERM) program at the VU, a flagship program of the Institute for Environmental Studies with some 200 students. He coordinates and teaches courses in the ERM and the Master in Political Science at the VU. Dr. Widerberg’s research has been published in nearly 60 academic articles, books and book-chapters, reports and policy briefs, amongst which a handbook article on sustainability governance in the Arctic. Dr. Widerberg also combines his academic work with consultancy assignments for international public and private clients, including the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. More on his work and publications can be found here:
https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/oe-widerberg

Marjo Lindroth:

Teacher in the JM Module for lecture/seminar sessions on resource politics in the Arctic region and relations between indigenous peoples and states. Dr. Lindroth’s research interests lie at the intersections of international politics, law and indigeneity. She has published extensively on contemporary colonialism and the development of indigenous-state relations.

Her recent research has critically examined the role of hope in these relations.Teacher in the JM Module for lecture/seminar sessions on resource politics in the Arctic region and relations between indigenous peoples and states. Dr. Lindroth’s research interests lie at the intersections of international politics, law and indigeneity. She has published extensively on contemporary colonialism and the development of indigenous-state relations. Her recent research has critically examined the role of hope in these relations. Her publications include two monographs, co-authored with Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen: The Colonial Politics of Hope: Critical Junctures of Indigenous-State Relations (Routledge, Interventions, 2022) and Global Politics and its Violent Care for Indigeneity: Sequels to Colonialism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). Her work has been published in journals such as International Political Sociology, Social & Legal Studies, The Extractive Industries and Society and Global Society. Dr. Lindroth has taught courses on, for example, resource politics and indigenous-state relations in international politics. She has previously conducted research projects supported by the Academy of Finland, Kone Foundation and Nordregio. More on her research and publications can be found here: https://research.ulapland.fi/en/persons/marjo-lindroth