As of 1 September 2025, the Executive Board of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has awarded a University Research Chair (URC) to Professor of Global Politics and Networks, Nana de Graaff, at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.
This appointment recognises the outstanding quality of De Graaff’s research and the national and international visibility of her academic leadership.
De Graaff: “Being awarded this prestigious chair reflects VU’s commitment to addressing pressing social and societal issues and its willingness to embrace a critical perspective. Uncovering and questioning the structures of power is a key motivation for me as a researcher and teacher, and this appointment strengthens and supports that drive and ambition.”
Global Politics
De Graaffs research focuses on elite networks and governance, addressing some of the most urgent and complex challenges in contemporary global politics. These include the deteriorating relations between the West and emerging powers such as China, the direction of US foreign policy, EU–China relations, and the role of business elites and corporate power in policymaking and governance. More recently, her work has concentrated on the strategic rivalries surrounding key technologies.
De Graaff: “We are currently living through a (geo)politically turbulent time, with the course of globalisation unclear, the shape of the future world order uncertain, and the rules of the game still being written. Everything is in flux. My research examines how political and economic elites are attempting to steer these developments—while they themselves are under pressure from populism, discontent, and socio-economic inequality.”
Network Analysis and Biographical Mapping
Through her ReGlobe research group (funded by Vidi and Stimulation Grants), De Graaff brings together innovative insights from International Political Economy, Sociology, and International Security Studies.
In addition, she has developed a distinctive methodological approach. By combining social network analysis with biographical mapping, she has created a unique framework that offers both theoretical contributions and empirical insights into elite power structures and their influence on foreign policy.
CHERN
In line with this work, De Graaff is co-founder and chair of the China in Europe Research Network (CHERN), a leading European research network on China-Europe relations, which brings together over 300 scholars focused on this topic. She also regularly shares her expertise with key policy organisations and is a sought-after expert both in the Netherlands and internationally.
Dialogue Series and URC Network
De Graaff already has plans for how she intends to develop the chair further. “There is growing interest in this kind of research. That’s why I want to initiate a dialogue series with societal partners to deepen and strengthen the research.”
She also plans to explore the idea of setting up a 'URC network'—a platform where chairholders from various disciplines can come together to examine current academic challenges. “Universities are under pressure, and so are academic freedom, funding, and international collaboration,” says De Graaff. She offers an example: “Knowledge security is an important topic with many positive aspects. But there’s also a downside: international collaboration is increasingly stigmatised, which can foster mistrust in partnerships, for instance with China. I think it’s crucial to hear how other URC chairholders are experiencing this and to reflect together on such issues.”