Michael Leigh is Academic Director, Master of Arts in European Public Policy
Academic Director, Master of Arts in Global Risk
Senior Adjunct Professor at SAIS Europe


Sir Michael Leigh is currently Senior Fellow, Bruegel, Brussels, and Senior Advisor, Covington & Burling LLP, Brussels. Previously he was senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (2011-2016); Director-General for Enlargement of the European Commission (2006-2011); Deputy Director-General for External Relations (2003-2006); cabinet member and official, European Commission (1977-2003); Assistant Professor of International Relations, SAIS Bologna Center (1976-1977); Lecturer in International Relations University of Sussex (1974-1976). Erskine Fellow (2017) University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

His research, writing and public speaking focus on the future of the EU, Brexit, enlargement, neighborhood policy; Turkey's relations with the EU, Europe's response to political change in the Mediterranean and Middle East; energy questions in the eastern Mediterranean; public opinion and foreign policy. He also has an interest in Asia-Pacific and its relations with Europe. He writes and comments regularly on European affairs for Geopolitical Intelligence Services reports online, Euractiv and other media.

Leigh holds a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a PhD in Political Science from M.I.T.