UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Dr. Michael Riepl

Michael Riepl studied law at the University of Passau and passed his bar exam at the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg. In his LL.M. at the Geneva Academy he specialized in international humanitarian law and human rights. He has been teaching at the University of Cologne and completed his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Angelika Nußberger. In his PhD, he focused on Russia's contradictory role in the development of international humanitarian law. He has worked in the legal department of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva and later four years as an ICRC field delegate in Ukraine, Armenia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this role, he dealt, among other things, with the affairs of prisoners of war, the search for missing persons, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the practical application of international humanitarian law during armed conflict.

Michael is currently a post-doc researcher (Habilitand) with Prof. Dr. Angelika Nußberger at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection. He is researching the development of the right to self-determination of peoples in the South Caucasus, funded by a multi-year scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. In addition, he gives lectures and workshops for students and practitioners in international law. He is a member of the Cologne Center for Advanced Studies in International History and Law. Michael’s research interests include international humanitarian law, human rights, international legal history and regional studies in Eastern Europe, Russia and the South Caucasus. He is fluent in German, English, French, Russian, Armenian and Spanish and has intermediate knowledge of Turkish.