Gijs van Loon has been an Academy Project Fellow at the Clingendael Institute since August 2021. He develops, coordinates, and implements training programmes for diplomats and other international relations professionals, focusing on international security and cyber diplomacy.

Prior to joining Clingendael, Gijs has worked for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a policy researcher. In this role, he evaluated the Netherlands integrated police training mission in Kunduz, Afghanistan, policies towards EU’s common security and defense policy, and the MFA’s international cybersecurity policy.

Gijs holds a BSc and an MSc in Political Science from Radboud University, with a specialisation in Conflict Studies. During his studies, he completed an internship for a non-profit organisation that develops educational citizenship programmes for secondary schools in the Netherlands and Belgium. He also interned for a research department in association with the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in Bolivia, focusing on international law and politics.