Virginie Collombier is a Part-time Professor at the Middle East Directions Programme of the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies. She has been a Research Fellow at the European University Institute of Florence, Italy (EUI) since September 2013. Her main research interests are in social and political dynamics in Libya, with a focus on processes of mediation and reconciliation; the political economy of conflicts; security issues. Prior to this, her main research focus was Egyptian politics and transformations within the regime before and after the 2011 revolution. She has significant experience as an independent consultant and an analyst on the MENA region European governmental bodies and international organisations.