Prof. Dr. Tobias Lenz

Prof. Dr. Tobias Lenz is Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science (IPW) at Leuphana University. His research interests include international organizations and the comparative study of regional integration processes. In his ongoing research, he analyzes factors influencing the institutional design of regional organizations over time, the influence of EU institutions on other regional organizations, and the dynamics of self-legitimation in regional organizations.

Tobias Lenz is currently head of a Leibniz Junior Research Group entitled “Sources and Consequences of Legitimation Strategies of Regional Organisations” (LegRO) funded by the Leibniz Association at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg. He has recently completed a project funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony under its Research Cooperation Lower Saxony-Israel program on the impact of organizational overlap on the authority of international organizations (together with Yoram Haftel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem). He has held fellowships and visiting positions at the European University Institute, the Free University of Amsterdam, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the Free University of Berlin. He obtained his doctorate (PhD) in International Relations at Oxford University in 2012. More information about Tobias Lenz can be found here.

• since 03/2020: Professor of International Relations, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany
• 09/2019 – 02/2020: Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Leibniz Junior Research Group “Sources and Consequences of Legitimation Strategies of Regional Organizations” (LegRO), German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg, Germany
• 09/2015 – 08/2016: Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
• 12/2013 – 08/019: Assistant Professor (Juniorprofessor) of Global Governance and Comparative Regionalism, University of Goettingen and German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg, Germany
• 12/2011 – 11/2013: Postdoctoral fellow on the ERC project “Causes and Consequences of Multilevel Governance”, directed by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 2007 – 2012: Dr.Phil in International Relations, St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, United Kingdom (defended in Nov. 2011)
• 2005 – 2007: M.Phil in Politics: European Politics and Society, St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, United Kingdom
• 2001 – 2004: BA in European Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany