Sara Hellmüller

Sara Hellmüller is a Research Professor in the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She serves as a Faculty Associate at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP). Her research focuses on peace processes, UN peace missions, and conflict dynamics in Africa and the Middle East. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Basel and has held prior roles at ETH Zurich, the University of Oxford, and the University of Montreal. Hellmüller is the principal investigator of multiple Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grants, including a project on belligerents’ consent to UN missions (2025-2029) and a study on Switzerland’s UN Security Council membership (2023-2025).

Her work bridges academic research and practical policy, including advising the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Syria. She co-developed the UN Peace Mission Mandates Dataset (UNPMM) and an associated mobile app, alongside curating a traveling exhibition on UN peace missions. Her geographical expertise spans DR Congo, Syria, Yemen, and Guinea.

Key research themes include the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping mandates, the role of norms in mediation, and the impact of global power shifts on peace promotion. Her grants and projects emphasize transformative science through empirical rigor combined with policy application.