Eva Claessen (@evaclaessen) is a PhD researcher in Russia studies at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies (GGS). Eva Claessen holds a Master Slavic and East-European Studies from KU Leuven. In 2016, she started her academic career as a teaching assistant for Slavic and East European Studies, during which time she did research on Russia’s Military and Security policy with a focus on Russian perspectives on information warfare. Prior to starting her PhD in 2018, she was an assistant for EU correspondents of various television stations from all over Europe, for whom she provided research and logistical support. Her research interests include Russian foreign and security policy, as well as Russian perspectives on the global governance of cyber space.

She is involved in the project CONNECTIVITY, which offers an assessment of how differences between prominent States’ conceptualisation of international norms impact upon cooperation in the international system. In this context, she is working on Russia’s role in cyber norm development. Her PhD thesis titled “Defining virtual borders – the impact of securitizing and civilizational narratives on the formation of Internet policy by Russia” focuses on the evolution of Russia’s Internet policy both domestically and abroad, as well as the impact strategic narratives have on the way Russia aims to advance its preferred normative framework. The aim is to not only distil the different narratives Russia employs in the area of cyber norm development, but also, more broadly, to discern the specific strategies that can be used in strategic norm construction.

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