PhD Researchers
Melanie Sauter: Dr. Sauter was a PhD student at EUI in 2017-22, working with Checkel and Diego Gambetta (co-supervisors). She defended her thesis, Humanitarians under Attack, in September 2022. Melanie is a specialist on conflict dynamics, humanitarian aid and peacekeeping. Her research and publications (International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Peace Research) employ rigorously executed mixed-method designs.
From September 2022 through December 2023, Sauter was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo, working on Jana Krause’s European Research Council project, ‘Resilience Building: Social Resilience, Gendered Dynamics, and Local Peace in Protracted Conflicts.’ In January 2024, Melanie will move to the University of Oxford, taking up a three-year Levin Junior Research Fellowship in Peace Studies at Lady Margaret Hall College.
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Sam Ritholtz: Dr. Ritholtz is currently (2022-24) a Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow, working with Checkel. In the 2023-24 academic year, he will assist with teaching and advising, as a Part-Time Professor in Qualitative Methods, in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at EUI. Sam defended his thesis at the Department of International Development, University of Oxford, in February 2023.
Ritholtz’s research on marginalized social groups, gender and sexuality sits at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations and political theory. Sam has published in the American Political Science Review and is the co-author (with Rebecca Buxton) of Toward a Queer Theory of Refuge (University of California Press, forthcoming).
In January 2024, Sam will take up a Lectureship in International Relations at the Department of Politics & International Relations, University of Oxford.
Ben Mueser: Dr. Mueser was a Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow, working with Checkel, in 2020-22. Mueser received his PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, New York, in 2021. In his research, publications and teaching, Ben works across and integrates insights from both international relations theory and political theory – a rare combination in today’s hyper-specialized disciplinary milieus.
Since leaving EUI in August 2022, Ben has been a Core Lecturer in Contemporary Civilization, Department of Political Science, Columbia University.
Shubha Prasad: Dr. Prasad was a Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow, working with Checkel, in 2020-22. In addition, during the 2021-22 academic year, she was a Part-Time Professor in Qualitative Methods, in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at EUI. Shubha’s 2020 PhD is from the Department of Political Science at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. She is an international relations theorist, with a focus on the domestic sources of foreign policy, spanning substate conflict to diaspora mobilization.
In September 2022, Shubha began a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of International Relations, Hertie School, Berlin, Germany.