Giulia Prelz Oltramonti is an Assistant Professor in Political Science/ International Relations at ESPOL (Université Catholique de Lille) and a Research Fellow at the REPI (Université libre de Bruxelles). She works on conflict protraction and on contested sovereignties and statehood, exploring subjects related to alternative diplomatic practices, boundary creation, and political economy of conflict and statemaking. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université libre de Bruxelles and a MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King's College London.