Areas of Expertise

• European Security and Defense Policy
• Transatlantic Relationship
• Diplomacy / Attaché Corps

Academic Degrees

• Diplomingenieur Maschinenbau (FH) (M.S., Mechanical Engineering) Bundeswehr University, Munich
• Master in Studi Internazionali Strategico-Militari (M.A., International Military Strategy Studies), LUISS University, Rome

Colonel Lau joined the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, as a military professor, 
in October 2022. Beginning in Summer 2024, he is Head of the Department on Regional Security Studies. Previously he served as Deputy Course Director and Course Director of the resident programs SRS and PASS.

Prior to joining the Marshall Center, Colonel Lau served as Defense Attaché in Santiago de Chile, where he was accredited to Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay. Colonel Lau is a graduate of the German Armed Forces General Staff (GS) Course in Hamburg and of the Italian Armed Forces General Staff Course in Rome and owns a Diploma in Strategic Political Management and Defense of the National Defense Academy of Armed Forces of Chile.

He has held various leadership and staff positions in the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces), was liaison officer to the Italian Armed Forces in Italy and served in the German Ministry of Defense in Berlin. The majority of his positions were related to international cooperation.

He deployed to Kosovo as Battalion Commander and to Afghanistan in different functions (Deputy Chief of Staff of NTMA-A/CSTC-A and Senior Advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Defense). 

Colonel Lau’s awards include: 

• Gold, Silver, and Bronze Honor Medal of the Bundeswehr
• NATO KFOR Medal and Kosovo Medal of the Bundeswehr
• NATO ISAF Medal and Afghanistan ISAF Medal of the Bundeswehr
• NATO Resolute Support Medal and Afghanistan RS Medal of the Bundeswehr
• Meritorious Service Award Medal to NTMA-A/CSTC-A, Afghanistan