Marinos Papaioakeim specialises in Military and Defence Diplomacy. He has served as the Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society Cyprus and holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus. Following undergraduate studies, he completed an MA in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at Lancaster University in UK. He has completed his PhD in Diplomacy and International Relations at the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Cyprus. His thesis examines the Defence/Military Diplomacy in Small States. His main research interests include Defence/Military Diplomacy, Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, Transformational Diplomacy, Track 2 Diplomacy, Small States, International Relations Theory, and the History of Diplomacy.