 Cavanaugh held the position of director for a decade before taking academic sabbatical to be executive-in-residence at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge's Clare College.His policy writing and research focus primarily on peace efforts in the South Caucasus, in particular the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.Under Cavanaugh's leadership, the size of this master's degree program was capped at 35 new students each year.