Supervisory & Advisory Board

Leila is a Predoctoral Researcher at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. She studied Public Administration at Leiden University, and specialised in International and European Governance. Before working at the Institute for Nonprofit Management, Leila worked as a Teacher and Researcher at the Erasmus University Rotterdam’s Department of Public Administration and Sociology. She gained work experience in the public sector at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Berlin and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. Additionally, she carried out project-based work for several non-governmental organisations.

Monika is the owner and founder of Manios Consultancy. She works on assignments in the construction and infrastructure sector, with a broad variety of assignments with (semi) public and commercial organizations. Born in Poland and raised in the Netherlands, she studied at the TU Delft and based on her sports achievements in rowing she was granted a scholarship at the University of Miami, where she completed her studies in architecture. She started her career at the renowned architecture office of Arquitectonica in Miami. She moved back to the Netherlands in 2005 to pursue her dreams of rowing with the team NL, besides being an architect. In 2009 Monika moved towards infrastructure at BT Geoconsult and Arcadis. In 2016 she started her own company. Besides her career she is still in rowing, both as an athlete and coach. 

Henne studied law at the University of Leiden and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978. He has worked as a diplomat in Hanoi, New Delhi, Brussels (at the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the EU) and Los Angeles. Later, at the Department in The Hague, he was, among other things, deputy director of Political Affairs within the European Integration Directorate. In 1997 he became Head of Political Affairs at the Embassy in Washington and in 1998 he became Deputy Head of Mission. In 2002 Henne returned to Brussels as Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the EU. He remained in Brussels where he became Director of the Cabinet of the Secretary General of NATO in 2006. In September 2009 he was recalled to The Hague to become director of the North Africa and Middle East Directorate. In 2010 Henne became Ambassador in Belgium and in 2015 he was appointed Ambassador in Washington until his retirement in 2019.

Paul started his career at Groningen en Leiden University, researching Dutch political and parliamentary issues. In 1978 he worked for the Netherlands Society for International affairs which later became the Clingendael Institute, where he created and directed the Clingendael Academy. He became the Deputy General-Director, Advisor to the General Director, and after retirement Senior Research Associate. Since 1989 Paul has delivered seminars on international negotiation in a hundred countries, and published articles and chapters on the subject. He has held three visiting professorships; at present he is associated with Leiden University while lecturing at other universities and organisations in and around Europe, and holds a Honoris Causa of the National University of Mongolia. Paul serves on the Advisory Boards of The Young Diplomat and of the International Negotiation Journal, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Program. In 2017 he founded the PIN ‘Program on International Negotiation Training’ (POINT). 

Mendeltje has been a Professor of Practice in The Changing Role of Europe at The Hague University of Applied Sciences since 2018. From 2011 to 2017 she was clerk for European Affairs at the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer der Staten Generaal). European policy, the relationship between the Netherlands and the EU, and the organisation of advocacy are common threads throughout her career. She previously worked as an Europe advisor at several government institutions and at the Clingendael Institute. In the meantime, Mendeltje obtained her PhD on the role of the Netherlands in European policy-making. Her European and international involvement is also expressed in her involvement with a number of civil society organisations.

Rob is the founder of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and Professor of International Relations and Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. He studied Contemporary History and International Relations at Groningen University, and wrote his PhD dissertation on NATO’s ‘Flexibility in Response’ strategy at the Political Science Department of Leiden University. Prof. De Wijk started his career in 1977 as a freelance journalist and later became head of the Defense Concepts Department of the Dutch Ministry of Defense, head of the Security Studies at the Clingendael Institute, and Professor of International Relations at the Royal Netherlands Military Academy.