Transatlantic Relations

Julia Tréhu is a Paris-based program manager and fellow with GMF Technology. Her focus is on US and European digital and technology policy, including technology-related trade and investment policy, platform regulation, data governance, and artificial intelligence. Tréhu holds master’s degrees in international political economy from the London School of Economics and in international security from Sciences Po Paris, and a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University.

James (J.D.) Bindenagel is a former Visiting Distinguished Fellow at GMF.

Sophie Arts is a Washington, DC-based fellow with GMF Geostrategy North. She leads the team’s research on Nordic and Arctic security and geopolitics, covering North American homeland defense against conventional and hybrid threats, and cooperation with allies and partners. She also focuses on Russian and Chinese activities in the Arctic region. 

Arts serves as co-chair on the task force for global peace and security for the Think7 (T7), the official G7 group that brings together the world’s leading think tanks and research centers. Her writing and commentary are featured regularly in international media. 

In 2017, Arts joined GMF's security and defense policy team, focusing on transatlantic security within and outside NATO. Her prior research covered the alliance’s partnerships and flexible formats, the impact of emerging technologies on NATO defense and deterrence, the dynamics of escalation within the cyber domain, and strategic stability in a multipolar world.

Arts previously worked at the Atlantic Council, GMF’s Brussels office, Spiegel Online International, and Kantar Media. Originally from Germany, she holds a master’s degree from Humboldt University in Berlin and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Freiburg. She completed coursework at Connecticut College and the University of Virginia, where she also worked as a research assistant in the media studies department and in the university’s Center for Politics, supporting Larry J. Sabato's work on "The Kennedy Half-Century". 

Emiliano Alessandri is a visiting senior fellow at GMF. He is also a senior adviser with the Agency for Peace Building and an associate fellow with the Middle East Institute. His expertise is in the field of international security and multilateral cooperation with a particular focus on transatlantic relations, European affairs, and the Mediterranean/Middle East North Africa.

Alessandri was a resident senior transatlantic fellow with GMF between 2010 and 2013, working primarily on Mediterranean affairs and Türkiye. He subsequently served three successive secretary generals of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as a senior officer between 2013 and 2023. He also held positions with the International Center for Migration Policy Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Institute of International Affairs of Rome, and taught at the College of Europe and Central European University.

Alessandri holds a PhD in international history from the University of Cambridge and a master’s degree in international economics and US foreign policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). 

Kristina Kausch is deputy managing director and senior fellow, GMF South. She is also GMF’s representative in Madrid. Her research focuses on Europe’s relations with its neighborhood and broader geopolitical trends in the Middle East.

Prior to joining GMF, she held positions with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Spanish think tank FRIDE, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the German development cooperation agency GIZ. She has provided articles and commentary to a range of outlets including The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Guardian, Politico, El País, Middle East Eye, Der Tagesspiegel, and Süddeutsche Zeitung.