Gunilla Herolf is PhD in political science from Stockholm University. Her main fields of research are European integration, European security policy cooperation with a focus on France, Germany and the UK, EU and NATO, Nordic security policy and transatlantic relations. Much of her research has been pursued within European networks.
Gunilla Herolf has previously been senior research fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Fellow (SIIA), where she worked between 1988 – 2007. She has also been senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) 2007 – 2012. She has taught at Stockholm University and at Shandong University, Jinan, China and held a number of lectures at various universities.
Gunilla Herolf is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (RSAWS), of which she was vice president 2010 – 2014. She was member of the board of the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) between 2000 and 2016 and member of the steering committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission (EuroMeSCo) 2005 – 2016. Between 2008 and 2011 she was member of Wissenschaftlicher Beirat at the Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik an der Universität Hamburg (IFSH).
Gunilla Herolf became a member of the Swedish Society of International Affairs (Utrikespolitiska Samfundet) in 2007 and in 2018 member of its election committee. Since 2015 she is the chairman of the editorial committee of the magazine “Vårt Försvar” (Our Defence) of Allmänna Försvarsföreningen (Swedish Defence Association).