Mehari Taddele Maru

Prof Mehari is currently a part-time professor at the School of Transnational Governance and academic coordinator of the Young African Leaders Programme (YALP) at the European University Institute in Florence, as well as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna.

With over 23 years of experience in teaching, research and professional roles in intergovernmental negotiations and leadership in multilateral governance bodies, think tanks, and universities, Prof Mehari has developed a unique blend of skills and expertise in strategic thinking, management, transnational and national policy, law-making, multilateral relations, applied cross-border research, and academic excellence. This is complemented by his in-depth knowledge of multilateral forums and partnerships, particularly those between the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU).

He teaches and works on research topics that focus on new frontiers in transnational governance and law, leadership and management of partnerships, geopolitics and African agency, peace and security, migration and mobility, as well as human rights and humanitarian law.

He also runs innovative core courses for master's and executive training modules for specialists, and creative deliberative platforms for policy makers, leaders drawn from transnational governance institutions and diplomatic communities such as the UN, the AU, EU delegations, RECs, and other transboundary regulatory bodies.

Previously, as a high-level professional staff member, Prof Mehari served as a legal expert at the Office of the Legal Counsel of the AU and programme coordinator for migration at the AUC. He also served as chief strategist, lead migration expert, and legal drafter for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the AU High-level Advisory Group. Additionally, he was an expert at the Mercator Dialogue on Asylum and Migration and a fellow at the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) in Bruges, Belgium.

He was also programme head at the Institute for Security Studies and director at Addis Ababa University. He served as a visiting professor and was a senior fellow at the NATO Defense College (Rome), the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, the Nigerian Defence College (Abuja), the Nigerian Armed Forces Command and Staff College (Jaji), and the UN Institute for Economic Development and Planning (Dakar).

Prof Mehari is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford universities and has held fellowships in prestigious academic programmes at various think tanks and institutions of higher learning. These include the Robert Schuman Centre, the Nation Building Institute, the Future Studies Institute, George Mason University, Royal Dutch Shell, the NATO Partnership for Peace, Max Planck Institute, and the NATO Defense College.

Prof Mehari holds a PhD in legal sciences from JL Giessen University, Germany, an MPA from Harvard, an MSc from the University of Oxford, and an LLB from Addis Ababa University.