IFSH (Germany)
IFSH Hamburg researches the conditions for peace and security in Germany, Europe, and beyond. It conducts its research autonomously and independently. The “Arms Control and Emerging Technologies” program at IFSH provides sound scholarly analyses and policy-relevant concepts that enhance peace and security. Our international team comes from various scholarly fields, including from the social sciences, physics, and history. Our interdisciplinary approach allows us to analyse new technological and political challenges from a range of perspectives. We assess the impact of technological innovation on peace and security, and we examine the complex interdependencies of present-day arms dynamics. Additionally, an important part of our work involves policy consultation. In this capacity, we work closely with the federal government and with international organisations, research centres, and NGOs. We interact with the public through op-eds and interviews for leading daily newspapers, online outlets, and broadcast stations.
Contact information
Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg
Beim Schlump 83, 20144 Hamburg
Tel: +49 (0)40 866 077-0
Fax: +49 (0)40 866 077-88
Website: https://www.ifsh.de/
Point of contact
Dr. Ulrich Kühn
Head, Arms Control and Emerging Technologies
[email protected]
Phone +49 40 86 60 77-0
Twitter @DrUlrichKuehn
The team
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Dr. Ulrich Kühn Head of Program Tel. +49 (0)40 866 077 41 |
Ulrich Kühn is the Head of IFSH’s Arms Control and Emerging Technologies program. He is also a Nonresident Scholar with the Nuclear Policy Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Previously, he worked for the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation and for the German Federal Foreign Office. He is a former Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow, the founder of the trilateral Deep Cuts Commission and an alumnus of the ZEIT Foundation. |
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Zahra Bagheri Researcher Tel. +49 (0) 40 86 60 77 36 |
Zahra Bagheri joined the research area “Arms Control and Emerging Technologies” at the IFSH in 2024. In addition, she has been working on the German Federal Foreign Office-funded project “Muons for Peace”. Before her time at the IFSH, Zahra Bagheri studied physics in Iran and worked as a researcher at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM). Since then, she has been working on her PhD in the “Nuclear Verification and Disarmament” research group at the University of Hamburg’s Institute for Experimental Physics and exploring muon tomography as a novel verification approach. |
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Lena-Sophie Drews Researcher Tel. +49 (0) 152 03072638 |
Lena-Sophie Drews is a researcher in the field of International Cybersecurity at the IFSH since January 2025. Previously, she worked at the Digital Society Institute at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin, focusing on cyber policy and cyber diplomacy. She also gained experience at the German Bundestag, supporting the Committee on Digital Affairs. Additionally, she worked in the Digital Public Services sector at Fraunhofer FOKUS in Berlin. She holds a master’s degree in political science with a focus on “World Politics”. |
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Dr. Tobias Fella Researcher Tel. +49 (0)30 240 47 75 14 |
Tobias Fella is Head of the IFSH’s Challenges to Deep Cuts project. Previously, he worked for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), the Hertie School and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), among others. He received his PhD in political science from Humboldt University of Berlin. His thesis explored the idea of US decline as a world power in neoconservative thought. |
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Christopher Fichtlscherer Researcher Tel. +49 (0) 40 413 30 76 09 |
Christopher Fichtlscherer joined the “Arms Control and New Technologies” project as a researcher in March 2021. He works on the DSF-funded project, “Nuclear Warhead Authentication Based on Gamma and Neutron Emissions – How to Discourage Cheating?”. In parallel, he is pursuing a PhD in the “Nuclear Verification and Disarmament” research group at RWTH Aachen, supported by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. He has a background in mathematics and physics and has undertaken research stays at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security and MIT’s Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy. |
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Dr. Timur Kadyshev Senior Researcher Tel. +49 (0) 40 86 60 77 38 |
Timur Kadyshev is a Senior Researcher with the natural sciences module of the Research and Transfer Project Arms Control and Emerging Technologies. His current research focuses on technical and political aspects of missile proliferation and missile defenses, with particular interest to capabilities of missile defenses and their effects on the global and regional military balances. Previously he worked as a Research Consultant at Princeton University’s Science and Global Security Program. Before that he worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Moscow’s Center for Arms Control, Energy, and Environmental Studies. He spent an academic year of 2001/02 as a Science Fellow at Stanford University’s CISAC, and early in his career worked as a Research Fellow at the Defense and Arms Control Studies program at MIT. |
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Mateusz Łabuz Researcher |
Mateusz Łabuz is a researcher at the research focus “International Cybersecurity” at the IFSH and a PhD researcher at the Chemnitz University of Technology. He lectures on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and disinformation at the University of the National Education Commission and the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow. He used to be a diplomat at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and graduated the Diplomatic Academy in Poland. He is non-resident fellow at the CEE Digital Democracy Watch and Future Shift Labs. |
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Dr. Sabine Mokry Researcher Tel. +49 (0) 40 86 60 77 37 |
Sabine Mokry is a researcher in the Arms Control and Emerging Technologies Project. Her work focuses on how autocracies shape their foreign policies and engage in international cooperation. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Leiden University (Netherlands). For the 2023-2024 academic year, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program. Before pursuing her PhD, she worked at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) as a research associate focusing on China’s foreign and security policy. She studied International Relations and China Studies at the University of Passau, Free University Berlin and at Nanjing University (China). |
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Dr. Matthias Schulze Senior Researcher Tel. +49 (0) 151/68 48 1202 |
Matthias Schulze is a cyber security expert. He currently leads the research Focus International Cybersecurity at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH). His work focuses on understanding the strategic use of cyber-capabilities in international relations, „cyber war“ / cyber-conflicts, cyber-espionage, information operations, and cyber-crime. He was a researcher and later deputy head of research at the security division at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) or the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Before that, he was a lecturer and research assistant in international relations at Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena. He holds a Ph.D. In International Relations from Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena. | |
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Franziska Stärk Researcher Tel. +49 (0)40 413 30 76 08 |
Franziska Stärk is a researcher at IFSH focusing on nuclear arms control and critical security studies. In her dissertation project, she studies intergenerational justice and nuclear weapons. In the beginning of 2023, she stepped down as the coordinator of the Young Deep Cuts Commission. Previously, she worked as a Policy Advisor for the Munich Security Conference. She is an alumna of the French Réseau Nucléaire et Stratégie – Nouvelle Génération and the German National Academic Scholarship Foundation. Franziska studied Political Science and Rhetoric at the University of Tübingen (B.A.) and International Security at Sciences Po Paris (M.A.) |
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Tim Thies Researcher Tel. +49 (0) 40 86 60 77 19 |
Tim Thies is a researcher with the research and transfer project Arms Control and Emerging Technologies. He is also a PhD candidate at the Institute for Management Research at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Previously, he was an EU Nonproliferation and Disarmament Consortium intern at the Peace Research Center Prague and a visting fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations from Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and an MA in Peace and Security Studies from the University of Hamburg. |
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