IRSD-KHID-RHID

Biography

Filip REYNIERS joined the Centre for Security and Defence Studies (CSDS) in November 2025 as an associate researcher specialising in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Great Lakes region, as well as in maritime spaces.
Since October 2012, he is Director of the International Peace Information Service (IPIS), an independent research institute focusing on peace, sustainable development and human rights in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this capacity, he oversees the general governance of IPIS, coordinates the institute and reports on its activities to the board of directors and external stakeholders.
He has a particular interest in the relationship between conflict and development in fragile states in Sub Saharan Africa, with a more specific focus on critical minerals, the geopolitical strategy of major powers and the role of African producing states in the supply chain of raw materials.
In addition, he conducts research on maritime strategies, in particular on the conditions for a balanced maritime policy where the economic, security and cultural-strategic domains reinforce each other. In doing so, he focuses on the maritime industrial base, the blue economy, the security of critical maritime infrastructure and sea lines of communication.
Filip has a candidature in law and studied modern history at the KU Leuven, as well as international relations and diplomacy at the University of Antwerp. He also took modules at the Antwerp Maritime Academy and interned on board of merchant ships. In 2010, he completed the High Studies for Security and Defence (HSSD) at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence. He has been a guest lecturer for the HSSD on several occasions and is also a member of this programme’s management committee.

Expertise

Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa
Critical minerals
Raw materials policy and supply security
Maritime strategy and policy

Publications

Filip Reyniers and Rodolphe van Hövell, “The Geopolitics of High-Value Minerals in Africa,” Security & Strategy (Royal Higher Institute for Defence), no. 156 (June 2025), https://www.defence-institute.be/en/publications-2/security-strategy/ss-156-filip-reyniers-rodolphe-van-hovell/.