Rumyana van Ark

Biography

Dr. Rumyana Grozdanova van Ark is a Senior Researcher in International Law and (Counter-)Terrorism at the Asser Institute of the University of Amsterdam. She is a senior member and coordinator of the Implementing Partner Team on a range of GCTF Initiatives including the US and Norway led Initiative on Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE), the US and UK led Initiative on Countering UAS (C-UAS) and the US and UNOCT led initiative on Border Security Management (BSM). In 2021, she was part of the consortium team of experts within the European Commission funded Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) as well as part of the team evaluating the operation of EU Directive 2017/541 on Combatting Terrorism. Between 2021 and 2023, she was a member of the Advisory Board of the PREPARE Project (https://prepare-project.eu/).

Her research focuses on the evolving relationship between the individual (terror suspect) and the state following acts of terrorism. Her academic and professional experience on this topic spans over 7 years. Her first peer-reviewed works were published in 2013. Since then, her work has been published in various academic and professional journals, as part of edited book collections and within governmental reports. She is currently co-authoring a book on ‘Children’s Rights, ‘Foreign Fighters’ and Counter-Terrorism: The Children of Nowhere’ to be published within the Elgar Studies in Human Rights collection in late 2024.