Tobias von Lossow

Expertise: Water and security, conflict and cooperation in transboundary river basins, hydro-politics, weaponization of water, natural resource management and socio-economic development.

Tobias von Lossow is a Research Fellow at Clingendael’s EU and Global Affairs Research Unit.

At the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) / German Institute for International and Security Affairs in the Research Division Middle East and Africa he has been working on water issues for more than ten years. His areas of expertise include water conflicts and hydro-politics in transboundary river basins, as for example the Euphrates and Tigris, the Nile or the Congo. He is also working on the role of water in domestic and foreign policy making and on the links between water resource management and socio-economic development, for example in Israel, Egypt or the DRC.

His recent work focuses on the role of water in conflict and post-conflict settings in Iraq and Syria, particularly the weaponization of water by the so-called Islamic State (IS) and an outlook of future water politics in Iraq.

Since 2021, Tobias is an Affiliate Researcher at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education with a focus on water and security. Since 2012 he is a lecturer at the Freie Universität Berlin (FU). At the Department of Political and Social Sciences he teaches courses on water and conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

Between 2008 and 2014 he was coordinating the Transatlantic Post-Doc Fellowship for International Relations and Security (TAPIR). Since 2012 he is member of the Advisory Council of the Next Generation Leaders Program at the Arizona State University (ASU) and the McCain Institute.

A list of selected publications can be found here.