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Dr Neil John Melvin

Senior Researcher

Dr Neil John Melvin

Neil Melvin

Dr Neil Melvin has extensive experience both as a researcher and as a policy practitioner. Prior to joining SIPRI 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. 



His current research focuses 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 and currently his work focuses 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

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)