François Delerue's Visiting Fellowship
François Delerue joined us from 13 to 21 February 2020 for a Visiting Fellowship at The Hague Program for Cyber Norms at Leiden University's The Hague Campus. We sat down with him to hear about his fellowship experience.
Why were you interested in coming here?
I have been working on cyber international law and international relations for almost a decade and I have seen Leiden University and in particular The Hague Program for Cyber Norms becoming a leading hub in this field. Dennis Broeders and his colleagues at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs at Leiden University are making a great contribution to the development of this growing field of research as well as to the policy discussions. I had already the chance to meet and collaborate with Dennis Broeders, notably through the project EU Cyber Direct, and I wanted to give a new impulsion to your cooperation in joining the Program as a fellow. In addition, I was very curious to learn more about the Program as a successful multi-disciplinary research and policy project. Furthermore, the Program already welcomed an impressive list of renowned fellows and I was eager to be part of it and contribute to its activities.
What did you work on during the fellowship?
The timing of my stay at the Hague Program for Cyber Norms was very special to me since it coincided with the publication of my book: Cyber Operations and International Law (CUP 2020). I had thus the opportunity and privilege to organize my first book launch at the Hague Program for Cyber Norms. I really enjoyed the discussion we had following on the presentation of my book.
I took also advantage of my stay in The Hague to meet different people working on cyber norms who are based at Leiden University and more broadly in the Netherlands. The Hague and the Netherlands in general are a very dynamic research hub on these questions and these meetings were particularly relevant and useful for my research.
What's next for you?
I am currently preparing a paper that I will be presenting at the ESIL Symposium on “The Frontiers of International Law in Cyberspace” in May 2020 and which is organized by Przemysław Roguski, another fellow of the Hague Program for Cyber Norms.
More generally, I am continuing my research at the IRSEM, one of the research centers of the French Ministry of Defense, and my teaching at Sciences Po. The current sanitary crisis and the quarantine constitute a real challenge for our research and teachings. I believe it also obliges us to think about the way we were conducted our research, policy activities and teachings, and may profoundly transform our activities as scholars, not only during the crisis but also for the future.
Are you also interested to join our Visiting Fellowship Program? Applications are welcomed, reviewed and awarded year-round. Check out the Fellowships section for more information and the application process.