For as long as I can remember, I have had a deep interest in what makes politics tick, and I have been able to turn this lifelong interest into my career path with a PhD in geopolitics followed by a role as research fellow at the EU's Joint Research Centre and then an advisory position as deputy director, analyst in country risk at EIFO, where I am committed to bridging the gap between the world of research and practice.My main achievements at EIFO include building up in-depth knowledge and methods of country risk analysis and geopolitics in the coverage of East Asian and CIS-European country portfolios and translating this knowledge into concrete policy advice to EIFO's management and Board of Directors and our clients.