Cindy Wittke

Cindy Wittke is Head of the Department of Politics at the IOS and Professor for Normativity in International Politics at the Faculty of Law, University of Regensburg (from 2025). She previously led the Junior Research Group “Frozen and Unfrozen Conflicts” at IOS (2017-2025) and held postdoctoral positions at Indiana University and Freie Universität Berlin.

• PhD in International Law (summa cum laude), Freie Universität Berlin
• MA in East European Studies and International Law

Her research focuses on international law in post-Soviet conflict dynamics, including territorial disputes, peace negotiations, and state transformation processes. She examines how international legal norms interact with local political realities in conflict resolution contexts.

Recent publications analyze Ukrainian conflict legal dimensions, Donbas passportization, and Minsk Agreement enforcement challenges. Her work emphasizes multi-scalar legal experiments in post-Soviet regions.

Scientific Recognition:

• Award for Best Dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin (2014)
• Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013-2014)
• SIAS Summer Institute Fellow (2011-2012)

Active in international academic networks and policy dialogues, she contributes to conflict resolution frameworks and post-Soviet legal-political transformations.