Sophia Besch is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform’s (CER) Berlin office, where she leads the CER’s research on European defence policy, publishing extensively on European defence industrial cooperation, CSDP, German defence policy, the effects of Brexit on defence co-operation, and EU-NATO relations. In addition to her role at the CER, Sophia is also a non resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Sophia comments frequently on the broadcast and print media, and has provided analysis to The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Die Welt, New Statesman. TAZ, Politico, War On The Rocks, and Project Syndicate, among others. She served as an expert witness for the UK House of Commons Defence Select Committee, the European Parliament Subcommittee for Security and Defence, and the Bundestag EU Committee.
Prior to joining the CER, Sophia was a Carlo Schmid Fellow at the Policy Planning Unit at NATO HQ and worked as a researcher for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. She served as Co-President of Women in International Security (WIIS) UK 2017-2018.
Sophia holds degrees in International Security and International Relations from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics. She is currently a PhD candidate at King’s College London, where she writes her thesis on the subject of the European Defence Fund.