Dr. Christoph Leonhardt
Chief Operating Officer (COO)


Christoph Leonhardt is Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Middle East Minds and completed his doctorate on paramilitary groups in the Syrian war at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich. He is also the director of Okzident-Orient. After studying in Berlin and Beirut, he worked as a Middle East consultant at the German Orient Institute. He has been working in this field in the public sector since 2016. Among other things, he was Head of Division at the State Office for Refugee Affairs, primarily for Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. He was also a research assistant at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the University of the Federal Armed Forces.
Against the background of his multiple professional stays in the region and his academic activities, he publishes on the dynamic developments in the Near and Middle East, gives lectures on security policy aspects and sub-state actors and holds seminars on flight, migration and intercultural skills. 

Contact: christoph.leonhardt@middle-east-minds.com

Research focus:

· Security Policy of the Middle East

· Sub-state actors (paramilitaries & rebel groups)

· Islam & Islamism

· Flight & Migration

· Country profiles: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel/Palestine