Dr. Werner Distler is Assistant Professor for International Relations (Chair Group Global IR and Humanitarian Action) at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Until 2022 he worked at the Collaborative Research Center (SFB/TRR 138) Dynamics of Security and the Center for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg. Currently, and also during his stay at INTERACT, he is focusing on knowledge & archives in IR, and security governance & state formation in (post)conflict and (post)colonial situations. Recent publications focus on the role of knowledge in mandate decision-making for Mali operations in the German parliament (2013 - 2021, with Miriam Tekath), spatial security governance, and secessionist conflicts as legacies of UN Trusteeship and colonial rule (with Julius Heise).