Dr Bastian Giegerich is the Director-General and Chief Executive of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Prior to assuming the Directorship in October 2023, he served as Director of Defence and Military Analysis (2015–23), leading the team that produces the IISS annual flagship publication The Military Balance, overseeing the development of the Military Balance+ online database, and contributing to research and consultancy work. From 2010–15, he worked for the German Federal Ministry of Defence in research and policy roles, while also serving as an IISS Consulting Senior Fellow for European security. He initially joined the IISS in 2005 on a post-doctoral fellowship to work on European military crisis-management efforts. He is the author and editor of several books on European security and defence matters. He has taught international relations, military studies and public administration courses at the London School of Economics, the University of Potsdam and the University of Kassel. He holds a master's in political science from the University of Potsdam and a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics. During the 1999–2000 academic year, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.