Dr. Robert Heinsch is an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University, and is the Director of its Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law at Leiden University and the founder of the Leiden IHL clinic. From 1 April 2018 to 28 February 2019 he held the DAAD Guest Chair for International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law and Applied Legal Theory at the Institute of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) of Bochum University in Germany. During his time at the IFHV he successfully created the Bochum IHL Clinic.

Furthermore, he served as Rapporteur of the ILA study group on the “The Conduct of Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law – Challenges from 21st Century Warfare” between 2012 and 2017. Furthermore, he is member of the German National IHL Committee, and held the position of Federal Dissemination Officer for International Humanitarian Law of the German Red Cross from 2011 to 2014. Previously, he has worked as a Legal Advisor in the International Humanitarian Law Department of the Red Cross Headquarters in Berlin, and as a Legal Officer in the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In addition, he has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Chair for International Law and European Law, Cologne University, and a Visiting Lecturer at Bochum University, respectively.

He has published various articles in the field of international criminal law and international humanitarian law, including a monograph on the jurisprudence of the Yugoslavia and Rwanda War Crimes Tribunals and its impact on the development of IHL, and he gives regularly presentations and lectures in these fields. He is associated with the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at Bochum University; Former Managing Editor of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law (YIHL); Member of the Editorial Board of the German Journal of Peace and Armed Conflict (JILPAC); Former Senior Editor of the Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL); Member of the German Working Group for International Criminal Law; Former Member of the United Nations Association (UNA); Member of the International Law Association (ILA); and Advisor of the International Criminal Court Case Matrix Network (CMN). He holds a Dr. jur. (Ph.D in Law) Degree from the University of Cologne, an LL.M. Degree from University College London, and the First and Second German Legal State Examination.