The independent resource on global security
Dr Neil John Melvin
Senior Researcher
Dr Neil John Melvin
Dr Neil Melvin was a Senior Researcher at SIPRI.
Dr Melvin has extensive experience both as a researcher and as a policy practitioner. Prior to joining SIPRI in 2010, he held Senior Adviser positions in the Energy Charter Secretariat and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. He has also worked at a variety of leading policy institutes and universities in Europe. Dr Melvin has published widely on issues of international security, with a focus on the role of external security actors in the Horn of Africa and the intersection of Indo-Pacific security with East Africa and the Horn region.
He has served as head of the regional office and political adviser to the European Union Special Representative for the Horn of Africa and as a consultant to the United Nations on African security. Dr Melvin joined SIPRI as Director of the Programme on Armed Conflict and Conflict Management in May 2010. During his time at SIPRI, his work focused on the Horn of Africa and Indian Ocean Security.
Subject expertise
Contemporary forms of conflict, proxy and civil wars, interstate conflicts, energy security, regional security institutions, maritime security
Regional expertise
Horn of Africa, Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific security
Languages
English, Russian
Education
PhD in Politics, St Antony's College, Oxford University, UK
SIPRI COMMENTARY
- Decreasing violence in the North Caucasus: Is an end to the regional conflict in sight? (Blog, )
- Shifting conflict and security dynamics in the Caucasus: The role of regional powers (Blog, )
- Middle East conflict risks overspill into the Caucasus (Blog, )
- 3 Mar. 2014: Preventing a new division of Europe (Expert comment, )
- 6 Feb. 2014: Sochi Olympics will leave a questionable legacy for Caucasus conflicts (Expert comment, )
SIPRI AND PARTNER PUBLICATIONS
- The Foreign Military Presence in the Horn of Africa Region (SIPRI, Stockholm: April 2019)
- The New External Security Politics of the Horn of Africa Region (SIPRI, Stockholm: April 2019)
- Managing the New External Security Politics of the Horn of Africa Region (SIPRI, Stockholm: April 2019)
- Rebuilding Collective Security in the Black Sea Region (December 2018)
- The New Arctic Governance (February 2016)
- Managing Conflict and Integration in the South Caucasus: A Challenge for the European Union (November 2015) 8 pp.
- New Social Media and Conflict in Kyrgyzstan (August 2011) 24 pp.
- Building Stability in the North Caucasus: Ways Forward for Russia and the European Union (May 2007) 59 pp.
- Conflict in Southern Thailand: Islamism, Violence and the State in the Patani Insurgency (September 2007) 40 pp.
External publications
- Melvin, N., ‘Preventing and managing energy conflicts: is there a role for cooperative security?', Security and Human Rights, vol. 21, no. 1 (Mar. 2010)
- Melvin, N., ‘The European Union, Kazakhstan and the 2010 OSCE chairmanship’, Security and Human Rights, vol. 20, no. 1 (Mar. 2009)
- Melvin, N. and Boonstra, J., ‘The EU strategy for Central Asia @ year one’, EUCAM Policy Brief no. 1 (Oct. 2008)
- Melvin, N., Conflict in Southern Thailand: Islamism, Violence and the State in the Patani Insurgency, SIPRI Policy Paper no. 20 (Sep. 2007)
- Melvin, N., ‘The European Union's strategic role in Central Asia’, Centre for European Policy Studies Policy Brief no. 128, (Mar. 2007)