Dr Polly Pallister-Wilkins is an assistant professor in the Political Science department at the University of Amsterdam and a researcher at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research. Her research focuses on humanitarian interventions at the borders of Europe, most recently in the Mediterranean and the Aegean. Previous work has critically addressed EU and European security and democracy promotion efforts in the Mediterranean neighbourhood, the politics of crises and specific European border policing practices. As a result she is the author of a range of scholarly works addressing these issues. She works closely with a range of partners most notably from the European Crisis Observatory (Athens) and Médecins Sans Frontières (OCA).