Max Smeets is the Co-Director of the European Cyber Conflict Research Incubator (ECCRI CIC) and the European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative (ECCRI). He is also a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich.
His scholarship focuses on cyber security, strategy and risk. He is the author of ‘No Shortcuts: Why States Struggle to Develop a Military Cyber- Force’ (Oxford University Press & Hurst Publishers, 2022) and co-editor of ‘Deter, Disrupt or Deceive? Assessing Cyber Conflict as an Intelligence Contest’ (Georgetown University Press, 2023) and ‘Cyberspace and Instability‘ (Edinburgh University Press, 2023). He is currently writing a book on ransomware.
In 2023, he co-founded Binding Hook, a media outlet part of ECCRI at the intersection of Technology and Security. Max is an affiliate at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and an associate fellow at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). He also lectures on cyber warfare and defense as part of the Senior Officer course at the NATO Defense College in Rome.He was previously a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Stanford University CISAC and a College Lecturer at Keble College, University of Oxford. He has also held research and fellowship positions at New America, Columbia University SIPA, Sciences Po CERI, and NATO CCD COE.
Max received a BA in Economics, Politics and Statistics summa cum laude from University College Roosevelt, Utrecht University and an MPhil (Brasenose College) and DPhil (St. John’s College) in International Relations from the University of Oxford.