Beatrice Albertha de Graaf

Beatrice Albertha de Graaf is a Distinguished Professor of History of International Relations & Global Governance at Utrecht University's Humanities Faculty. She also serves as a Fellow at George Washington University/New York Times' Program on Extremism and leads the ERC-funded 'Securing Europe' project. Her research focuses on security history, counterterrorism, and crisis management, with emphasis on balancing security measures with democratic values.

Educated at Utrecht and Bonn (cum laude), she earned her PhD on the GDR and peace movements. Previously held roles include Full Professor at Leiden University (2012–2014), Chair of the Dutch National Research Agenda (2014–2016), and co-founder of the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism.

Research interests span 19th-century European security culture, modern terrorism dynamics, and societal crisis responses. Her work bridges academia and public discourse via media contributions, educational projects like TerInfo, and the Adapt! Academy (NWO Gravitation grant).

• Key Grants: ERC Consolidator Grant (2014), NWO Stevin Prize (2018), NWO VIDI Grant (2009)
• Awards: Taalstaatmeester Media Prize, Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award, Comenius Prize (2022)

She chairs Security for Open Societies (SOS) and sits on editorial boards of Terrorism and Political Violence. Recent projects include analyzing ISIS Files and developing crisis-resilience frameworks through interdisciplinary research.