Dr. Susanne Schmeier is the Head of the Water Governance Department at the Institute for Water Education (IHE), Delft, The Netherlands, and a Professor of Water Cooperation, Law and Diplomacy at IHE Delft and the University of Utrecht.
Her research, educational, and advisory work focuses on the legal and institutional mechanisms for mitigating conflict potential around natural resources and the environment, with a particular focus on water. She is particularly interested in how cooperation over water and other shared natural resources shape and are shaped by broader developments in a world characterized by increasing changes and crises and how institutions can help further a more cooperative, sustainable, and equitable future. She has published widely on topics relating to environmental security, transboundary water management and international organizations managing natural resources and the environment, both in academic journals and books and for a broader policy and general audience.
Dr. Schmeier is also affiliated with Oregon State University (OSU), USA, the Fletcher School at Tufts University, with whom together she directs the Shared Waters Lab Partnership, and the International Water Law Academy at the University of Wuhan, China. She also advises governments and international organizations on environmental and water conflict and cooperation and supports negotiations and dispute resolution processes in countries and basins around the world.
Prior to joining IHE Delft, Dr. Schmeier worked for the German Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), where she managed GIZ’s transboundary water portfolio around the world and GIZ’s water, energy, and food security nexus project. Prior to this, she also worked for the World Bank and the Mekong River Commission (MRC), among others.
She holds a PhD in transboundary water governance from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, in collaboration with Oregon State University, USA, an LLM in international law from the University of London, UK, and an MA in international law and international relations from the University of Leipzig, Germany, in collaboration with Sciences Po Paris, France.
