Chiara is a professor in political science (specialising in International Relations) at the Centre for International Studies (CERI) at Sciences Po. Before moving to Paris, she was an associate professor at the Swedish Defence University and an academy fellow at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. 

Her research is about multilateralism on the ground, peacekeeping operations, norms, cultures and civil-military relations. In particular, her research agenda revolves around multilateral governance and management of peace and security across different regions. Her two main areas of expertise are (1) multilateralism on the ground, multinational governance and management of peace and security (UN peacekeeping, dynamics of transformations of multinational interventions with increased participation of non- Western contributors, and search and rescue missions at sea in particular) and (2) civil – military relations and the transformation of the state. She has also written about methods, in particular about case studies and what causality means in qualitative research. 

Chiara studied political science, international relations and political sociology at the Sant 'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon. She received her PhD at the European University Institute in Florence and conducted her postdoctoral studies at the Belfer Center (Harvard Kennedy School). She held visiting positions at the University of Victoria (Canada) and at the University of Warwick (UK) and has given talks in a several universities, such as the Catòlica Universidad de Chile, the RSIS in Singapore, the Reppy Centre at Cornell University, the University of Reading, Oxford University, the University of Southern Denmark. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright Commission, the European Commission, the Swedish Research Council, the Royal Swedish Academy. 

Her work has been published in the European Journal of International Relations, Security Studies, Acta Sociologica, Armed Forces and Society, Security and Defence Analysis, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Comparative European Politics, among others. Her first book Military Cultures in Peace and Stability Operations was published with the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2018. Her second book (with Vincenzo Bove and Andrea Ruggeri) Composing Peace. Mission Composition in UN Peacekeeping was published by Oxford University Press in April 2020. Chiara is an editorial board member of Security Studies (and its ethics committee as well as one of the mentors to increase submissions from the Global South) and Armed Forces and Society.

Practicing reflexivity in elite contexts, rituals in peacekeeping, interpretivist approaches in peacekeeping, conceptions of military professionalism, civil-military relation, norm decline in international security, militarized masculinities and norms of restraint, racialized hierarchies.

• Thinking IR Globally (College Universitaire à Reims)
  Cultures of War (PSIA)
• Qualitative methods and methodologies (Research Master)
• The Contemporary International System (Research Master)

• Vanessa Newby, Chiara Ruffa. Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal promises a precarious peace in a region racked by conflict. The Conversation France, 2024. ⟨hal-05246517⟩
• Vanessa Newby, Chiara Ruffa. IDF actions against UN peacekeepers suggest Israel may be considering occupying part of southern Lebanon. The Conversation France, 2024. ⟨hal-05247172⟩
• Vanessa Newby, Chiara Ruffa. UN peacekeepers at risk as they deliver protection for civilians in southern Lebanon. The Conversation France, 2024. ⟨hal-05247227⟩
• Vanessa Newby, Chiara Ruffa. Por qué es un tremendo error que Israel invada Líbano. The Conversation France, 2024. ⟨hal-05247279⟩
• Vanessa Newby, Chiara Ruffa. It would be a mistake for Israel to invade Lebanon – here’s why. The Conversation France, 2024. ⟨hal-05247316⟩
• Vanessa Newby, Chiara Ruffa. US and Israel push to end UN peacekeeping mandate in south Lebanon risks regional chaos. The Conversation France, 2025. ⟨hal-05230248⟩
• Chiara Ruffa, Sebastiaan Rietjens. Meaning making in peacekeeping missions: mandate interpretation and multinational collaboration in the UN mission in Mali. 2024, 8 p. ⟨10.61880/MCFN7493⟩. ⟨hal-04660297⟩
• Chiara Ruffa, Vanessa Newby. Peacekeeping operations and civil–military relations: an emerging research agenda?. Aurel Croissant, David Kuehn, David Pion-Berlin (eds). Research Handbook on Civil–Military Relations, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp.219-230, 2024, Political Science and Public Policy, 9781800889835. ⟨10.4337/9781800889842.00026⟩. ⟨hal-04660312⟩
• Chiara Ruffa. Challenges and Strategies for the Reflexive Researcher Studying Elite Organizations. Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, 2024, 22 (1), pp.23-30. ⟨10.5281/zenodo.11506790⟩. ⟨hal-04643070⟩
• Louise Olsson, Chiara Ruffa. Tensions in Retention during Military Transformation: Illustrations from Re-establishing a Total Defence in Sweden. Joakim Berndtsson, Irina Goldenberg, Stéfanie von Hlatky (eds). Total Defence Forces in the Twenty-First Century, McGill-Queen's University Press, pp.76-97, 2023, Human Dimensions in Foreign Policy, Military Studies, and Security Studies Series, 9780228019299. ⟨10.2307/jj.9992396.8⟩. ⟨hal-04660331⟩
• Chiara Ruffa, Simone Tholens. Post-colonial practices continue to structure European security assistance. 2023. ⟨hal-04295111⟩
• Chiara Ruffa. Militarisation des crises et érosion des normes. Eberhard Kienle, Carola Klöck, Adrien Estève et Alain Dieckhoff (dir.). Un monde en crises, Presses de Sciences Po, pp.137-149, 2023, L'Enjeu mondial, 9782724641400. ⟨hal-04193980⟩
• Nick Dietrich, Kristine Eck, Chiara Ruffa. How governance shaped military responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. European Political Science Review, 2023, 13 p. ⟨10.1017/S1755773923000024⟩. ⟨hal-04017924⟩
• Simone Tholens, Chiara Ruffa. The elephant in the med: Postcoloniality and European security assistance practices. Mediterranean Politics, 2023, 24 p. ⟨10.1080/13629395.2023.2183662⟩. ⟨hal-04017898⟩