Paul-Simon Handy is the Institute for Security Studies’ Regional Director for East Africa and its Representative to the African Union in Addis Ababa. Since 2007 he has held various research and management positions in the Pretoria Headquarters and the Dakar Regional Office, including Deputy Executive Director and Research Director. He has served for 5 years in the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic. Paul-Simon has extensive experience in policy analysis, African and global multilateralism, political strategy development and conflict prevention.

Paul-Simon studied (Political Science and International Relations) at the universities of Yaoundé, Berlin and Leipzig where he obtained his PhD. He is visiting lecturer at Rhodes University in Grahamstown (South Africa) and has previously held teaching positions at the Free University of Berlin before joining the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs) in Berlin as Associate Fellow. He has widely published on issues related to the African Peace and Security Architecture, governance, state fragility as well as the Africa policy of the EU, France and Germany.

Paul-Simon is the Deputy Chair of Nett4Peace, the network of think tanks initiated by the African Union Commission for Political affairs, Peace and Security. He is on the editorial board of the African Security Review and sits in the board of various organisations. He has advised various governments, regional and international organisations on a wide range of African and global security matters, including strategy development.

Fluent in French, English and German. Paul-Simon has lived and worked in 4 out of Africa’s 5 regions.