Research Affiliates
Research Affiliates are selected scholars and researchers associated with the Tobisawa Institute through an academic affiliation designed to sustain long-term intellectual relationships, scholarly exchange, and, where appropriate, research collaboration across the Institute’s fields of interest.
The scheme reflects the Institute’s selective approach to academic affiliation and its commitment to sustaining an internationally connected community of researchers whose expertise complements its long-term research agenda. Research Affiliates retain their institutional and intellectual independence, while opportunities for collaboration develop selectively around shared research interests.
Dr Nancy Zulu
Research Affiliate, Tobisawa Institute
Qualifications:
LLB, LLM, PhD, University of Buckingham
Research interests:
International economic law, regulation and governance, legal and policy analysis.
Profile:
Dr Nancy Zulu is a Research Affiliate at the Tobisawa Institute. Her academic background is in law, with particular interests in international economic law, regulation, governance, and the interaction between legal frameworks and public policy. She holds LLB, LLM and PhD degrees from the University of Buckingham.
Dr Vassilis (Bill) Kappis
Adjunct Professor, Brussels School of Governance
Senior Research Fellow, Laboratory for Geocultural Analyses (GEOLab), Ionian University
Research Affiliate, Tobisawa Institute
Qualifications:
DPhil in International Relations, University of Sydney; MA in Strategic Studies, Australian National University;
MSc in European Integration, London School of Economics and Political Science;
BSc in International and European Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business.
Research interests:
International security, foreign policy decision-making, interstate security crises, political psychology, great-power rivalries, and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Profile:
Dr Vassilis (Bill) Kappis is an international security scholar whose research focuses on the strategic and psychological dimensions of interstate security crises and foreign policy decision-making, as well as security dilemmas and great-power rivalry in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Brussels School of Governance and a Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory for Geocultural Analyses (GEOLab), Ionian University. He was previously a tenured academic at the University of Buckingham Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies from 2016 to 2024.
Dr Tanvi Pate
Lecturer in Security and Intelligence Studies, University of Buckingham
Panel Tutor in International Relations, University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education
Research Affiliate, Tobisawa Institute
Qualifications:
PhD in Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick; MA in International Relations, University of Warwick; BA (Hons) in International Relations, University of Leicester.
Research interests:
International relations, contemporary geopolitics, security and intelligence, great power–rising power encounters, India and the global order.
Profile:
Dr Tanvi Pate is a Lecturer in Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham and a Panel Tutor in International Relations at the University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education. Her research interests include contemporary geopolitics, security and intelligence, great power–rising power relations, and India’s role in the global order. She is also a Fellow of Advance HE.
Dr Muhammad Tahir Mahmood
Research Fellow, University of Buckingham Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS)
Research Affiliate, Tobisawa Institute
Qualifications:
PhD in International Security and Intelligence Studies, University of Buckingham.
Research interests:
Counter-terrorism, criminal justice systems, law-enforcement institutions, security and intelligence agencies, international studies, and counter-terrorism strategies in a global context.
Profile:
Since July 2022, Dr Muhammad Tahir Mahmood has been a Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS). He also leads the South and Southeast Asia Security Research Centre (SSEASRC) at the University of Buckingham. Previously, he served as a Research Fellow in Terrorism and Security at the Foundation of the International Society of Law and Nuclear Disarmament (ISLAND) in Zurich, Switzerland.
His research examines counter-terrorism, judicial and law-enforcement institutions, security and intelligence agencies, and security policy, with particular reference to Pakistan and South Asia. His doctoral research at the University of Buckingham focused on the role of the judicial system and law-enforcement agencies in combating terrorism in Pakistan. He is the author of numerous publications on security, intelligence, and terrorism.