Dr. Eleni Braat is Associate Professor in Political History at Utrecht University, specialised in the history of intelligence and state secrecy, and the related political tensions during the 20th century. More specifically, her research concerns organisational (working) cultures of intelligence services, and their relation to memory, gender, political legitimacy, and democratisation. 

Eleni Braat obtained her Ph.D. from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2008), and she has been trained at the University of Amsterdam, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. She has been the official historian of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), and she is a member of the Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association (NISA). Eleni Braat is also a member of the University Council at Utrecht University (2023-2027), which promotes the interests of employees and students with the executive board of the university. 

Currently, Eleni Braat is engaged in the research project Politics of state secrecy. The long shadow of authoritarianism on the legitimacy of state secrecy, 1945-2015, funded by an Aspasia grant of the Dutch Research Council NWO (2020-2027). As part of this project, she was a visiting scholar at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2022. She is also collaborating with Ben de Jong (retired, University of Amsterdam) on a book project exploring research methods in intelligence history.     

Keywords: 

Intelligence (espionage), organisational culture (secrecy, gender), legitimacy, accountability, democratisation, memory, oral history.