Merel Ekelhof is a PhD researcher at the Vrije University Amsterdam and a research fellow at the Centre for the Politics of Transnational Law. Her research – commissioned by the Netherlands Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs – examines the effect of increasingly autonomous technologies on military decision-making. Her specific focus within that is on the application of the law of armed conflict and human control in the targeting process. She regularly engages with governments, humanitarian organizations, UN agencies (i.e. CCW), military services, international organizations (i.e. NATO), research institutes, the media and NGOs on issues related to autonomous weapons.