Dr. Christian Koch is the Director of the Gulf Research Center Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland. Previously, he served as Director of International Studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, UAE. Prior to joining the GRC, he worked as Head of the Strategic Studies Section at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi. His work at the Gulf Research Center combines the various international and foreign relations issues of the GCC states with a particular interest in GCC-EU Relations. Dr. Koch received his Ph.D. from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany and also studied at the American University in Washington, D.C. and the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Politische Entwicklung in einem arabischen Golfstaat: Die Rolle von Interessengruppen im Emirat Kuwait (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2000), the editor of six books and has written numerous chapter contributions and journal articles. He regularly writes for the international media including the Financial Times, Handelsblatt, die Süddeutsche Zeitung, Jane’s Sentinel Publications on Gulf issues and his media appearances include the BBC, Deutsche Welle and Al-Arabiyya television. In January 2007, he joined the advisory board of the German Orient Foundation.
