Prof. Brenda Shaffer is an international energy and foreign policy specialist, focusing on international energy policies, natural gas trade and foreign policy, Caspian energy, Azerbaijan, Iranian energy sector, ethnic politics in Iran, energy security policies, European energy security, critical energy infrastructure protection policy, and Eastern Mediterranean energy. She is a faculty member at the Energy Academic Group at the US Naval Postgraduate School. Prof. Shaffer is also a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center in Washington, DC.

Prof. Shaffer is the author of several books: Operational Energy (co-author with Daniel Nussbaum and Alan Howard, De Gruyter, 2024), Iran is more than Persia: Ethnic Politics in Iran (De Gruyter, 2022); Energy Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity (MIT Press, 2002), Partners in Need: The Strategic Relationship of Russia and Iran (Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2001). She has also served as the editor of Beyond the Resource Curse (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012) and Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy (MIT Press, 2006).

Prof. Shaffer frequently provides research and expert counsel to international institutions, governments, energy companies, financial institutions, and regional security organizations. She has served as an advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Energy on policy related to the major natural gas discoveries in Israel. She has advised several companies involved in Caspian energy production and export. She has given testimony to several committees of the U.S. Congress, including the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and to the European Parliament. Brenda frequently appears on major news outlets worldwide to provide insight on developments in global energy markets and trends.