Dr. Melanie Müller is a Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP) with a focus on South Africa/Southern Africa. She co-heads the Research Network Sustainable Supply Chains, a project investigating sustainable approaches to supply chains, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Dr. Müller has published extensively on developments in South Africa/SADC, on mineral resource governance, geopolitics and sustainability in supply chains, and on European-African relations. Before joining SWP, she worked as a research associate and lecturer at Free University of Berlin and as an advisor for public and private actors. In 2022 she was seconded to the German Ministry for Economics and Climate Action to support the development of Germany's raw material policy.