Dr. Christian Koch is Senior Advisor and Director of Research at the Bussola Institute in Brussels, Belgium. Prior to joining the Bussola Institute, he served as Director of the GRC Foundation, as Research Program Leader on Gulf-Europe Relations at the GRC in Dubai and as Head of Strategic Studies at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi. Dr. Koch’s work combines the analysis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states on pertinent foreign and security issues, with a particular interest in GCC-EU relations. He is particularly interested in better understanding the dynamics driving regional security issues in the Gulf region and promoting aspects of cooperative security among regional and international actors. Dr. Koch received his PhD from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.