The general context of the discussion

solutions for strengthening resilience in times of immense challenges

Some countries value freedom and prosperity. Their security strategy will, in this case, be to protect and enrich. Others value fear and people’s dependency on the state, economic dependency in particular. The security strategy of those states will be aggression and destruction. Can the security order be one for all?

What are the values which define strategies and tactics of the states, declaring protection and preserving the wellbeing of their people, specifically when the world is handling the pandemics of 2020? The war which Russia has been leading against Ukraine for 7 years continues to run a crash-test of the international system of collective security.

Can the new model of cooperation between the countries in the Black Sea become a safeguard from Russia’s further aggression in the region?

The information has already ceased to be freedom only. Over the last decades, it transformed into a valuable resource and even became a power over people – the power acting as check and balances, the power which now threatens freedom it has emerged from. Can we preserve human dignity and protect freedom under total arbitrariness of the power of information?

EXPERT ONLINE MARATHON

Due to COVID-19 pandemics Lviv security forum 2020 will be held in format of the expert online marathon.

#unity in freedom

Where

Online
6 webinars

When

Monday to Saturday
November 09 – 14, 2020

 LVIV SECURITY FORUM 2020 SCHEDULE

finding the right solutions together

Webinar 1 (November, 9th, 5 - 7 p. m. Kyiv time) – COVID and International Security Order Challenges

What are the consequences of COVID pandemics for international security order and liberal values? What are the old and new security challenges under conditions of global isolation?  What does the new Russian Constitution mean for the existing security order?

Moderator: Oksana Syroid, Co-chair of Lviv security forum, Leader of Samopomich Union political party

Keynote speaker: Carmen Romero, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary-General for Public Diplomacy

Speakers:

    1. Maj Gen Boguslav Pacek, professor in the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland)
    2. Iulian Chifu, Professor at the National Defense University Bucharest and an associated professor at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies Bucharest (Romania)
    3. Oleksandr Filts, President of the Ukrainian Union of Psychotherapists (Ukraine)
Webinar 2 (November, 10th, 5 - 7 p. m. Kyiv time) – Secure and prosperous Black Sea region: vision of common future

Are Russian aggressive actions in the Black Sea and hybrid aggression really a common challenge for the region? What are the obstacles and disputes which constrain the countries of the region from cooperation and how can they be overcome? What is the vision of the region that is in the interest of all states in a longer-term perspective?

Moderators: 

  1. Ben Hodges, Lt. Gen. (ret.) US Army, Co-chair of Lviv security forum, Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis (USA)
  2. Hanna Shelest, PhD, Editor-in-chief at UA: Ukraine Analytica and Director of Security Programmes, Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”

Speakers:

    1. Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, Director, Center for International and European Studies, Kadir Has University, Istanbul ( Greece)
    2. Mustafa Aydın, President, International Relations Council of Turkey; Professor of International Relations, Kadir Has University, Istanbul ( Turkey)
    3. Pavlo Lakiychuk, Head of the Security Program of the Center for Global Studies Strategy XXI (Ukraine)
    4. Batu Kutelia, Vice President of the Atlantic Council of Georgia and the Next Generation Leader fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership ( Georgia)
    5. Iulian Chifu, Professor at the National Defense University Bucharest and an associated professor at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies Bucharest (Romania)
    6. Dr Dimitar Bechev, Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, a research fellow at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill ( USA/Bulgaria)
Webinar 3 (November, 11th, 5 - 7 p. m. Kyiv time) – Secure and prosperous Black Sea region: building effective and comprehensive collective security

What are the steps towards building a common vision of the Black Sea regional security and prosperity? How Russian aggressive military policy in the region and the Black Sea can be deterred by common effort? How shall the individual states cooperate with each other, USA and NATO to achieve the common goals?

Moderators: 

  1. Ben Hodges, Lt. Gen. (ret.) US Army, Co-chair of Lviv security forum, Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis (USA);
  2. Hanna Shelest, PhD, Editor-in-chief at UA: Ukraine Analytica and Director of Security Programmes, Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”

Speakers:

    1. Admiral Ihor Voronchenko, Commander of the Ukrainian Navy in 2016-2019 (Ukraine)
    2. Amb. Alexander Vershbow, Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center on Strategy and Security in Washington DC ( USA)
    3. Dr Serhat Guvenc, Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University (Turkey)
    4. Shota Gvineria, Lecturer of Baltic Defence College (Georgia)
    5. Dr Mirčea Mîndrescu, Brigadier General (retired), Former Director of Strategic Planning Directorate, Romanian General Staff, Commander of NATO Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre, Lisbon and Director of National Defence College, Bucharest (Romania)
    6. Dr Dimitar Bechev, Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, a research fellow at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill ( USA/Bulgaria)
    7. Alla Hurska, an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation (Washington, DC), an Associate expert at the International Center for Policy Studies (Kyiv) (USA/ Ukraine)
    8. Glen Howard, President of Jamestown Foundation (USA)
    9. Soner Cagaptay, Director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (USA)
Webinar 4 (November, 12th, 5 - 7 p. m. Kyiv time) – Building secure and prosperous Black Sea region - crash test of the forum recommendations

Public interview of Let. Gen. Ben Hodges to Ukrainian and international media

Interviewers:
1. Brian Bonner, Kyiv Post, Editor in Chief
2. Yuriy Lapayev, Ukrainian week, journalist
3. Dmytro Yevchyn, Radio Liberty, presenter of Crimea: Realia tV program

Webinar 5 (November, 13th, 5 - 7 p. m. Kyiv time) – Informational Pearl Harbor ahead – understanding the threats and consequences

What are the information security challenges revealed by the pandemics and how they can be countered? What international efforts should be done to protect personal informational identity?

Moderator: Oksana Syroid, Co-chair of Lviv security forum, Leader of Samopomich Union political party

Speakers:

  1. Frans Geraedts, philosopher, Founding partner of Governance & Integrity (Netherlands)
  2. Tomas Erndl, Member of German Parliament ( Germany)
  3. Antonina Cherevko,  the Head of the Independent Media Council ( Ukraine)
  4. Dalia Bankauskaitė, Nonresident Fellow in CEPA’s Democratic Resilience program (Lithuania)
  5. Alya Shandra, Editor-in-chief of Euromaidan press (Ukraine)
  6. Dmytro Zolotuhin, Founder of the Institute of Post informational society (Ukraine)
Webinar 6 (November, 14th, 5 - 7 p. m. Kyiv time) – Personal informational identity as cornerstone of new security order.

What are the information security challenges revealed by the pandemics and how they can be countered? What international efforts should be done to protect personal informational identity?

Moderator: Oksana Syroid, Co-chair of Lviv security forum, Leader of Samopomich Union political party

Speakers:

  1. Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies (Denmark)
  2. Alya Shandra, Editor-in-chief of Euromaidan press (Ukraine)
  3. Dmytro Zolotuhin, Founder of the Institute of Post informational society (Ukraine)
  4. Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Agora Institute, Co-director of  the Arena Initiative (UK)
  5. Antonina Cherevko,  the Head of the Independent Media Council ( Ukraine)
  6. Dalia Bankauskaitė, Nonresident Fellow in CEPA’s Democratic Resilience program (Lithuania)
  7. Frans Geraedts, philosopher, Founding partner of Governance & Integrity (Netherlands)

Organizers

working to make a change together

Partners

creating a long-term impact together

Speakers

 bringing top industry experts to speak

syroid

Oksana Syroyid

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Co-Chair of Lviv security forum, Leader of Political party Samopomich Union, Deputy Speaker of Parliament in 2014-2019. 

As an MP worked on draft laws on judicial reform, reform of police and prosecution, local self-government reform, as well as actively participated in the work of the Constitutional Commission established in March 2015. She dedicates much of her time to defence and security issues, having contributed a draft law “On the Territory of Ukraine temporary Occupied by Russian Federation”. Oksana Syroid has previously has worked as Director of All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Ukrainian Legal Foundation”. In 2004-2012 she was the National Project Manager and the Head of Rule of Law Unit at OSCE office in Ukraine. In 2001-2002 she worked in Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. She is a lecturer at the National School of Judges of Ukraine, co-author of handbooks in the area of administrative justice, as well as associate professor of the Law Faculty at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and a co-founder of Kyiv-Mohyla School of Public Administration. Oksana Syroid holds Master degree in Laws at University of Ottawa, Ottawa and Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University and Bachelor degree in Political sciences at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Hodges

Ben Hodges

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Lt. Gen. (ret.) US Army, Co-chair of Lviv security forum, Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis. He served as commanding general, United States Army Europe  in 2014- 2017.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges graduated from the United States Military Academy in May 1980 and was commissioned in the Infantry. After his first assignment as an Infantry Lieutenant in Germany, he commanded Infantry units at the Company, Battalion and Brigade levels at the 101st Airborne Division and in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. His most recent operational assignment was as Director of Operations, Regional Command South, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. Hodges has also served in a variety of Joint and Army Staff positions to include Tactics Instructor at the Infantry School; Chief of Plans, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea; Aide-de-Camp to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe; Army Congressional Liaison Officer; Task Force Senior Observer-Controller at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, LA; Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg; and Director of the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell on the Joint Staff; Chief of Legislative Liaison for the United States Army. He has been the Commander of NATO Allied Land Command from 2012 to 2014.

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Glen Howard

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President of Jamestown Foundation (USA)

Mr. Howard is fluent in Russian and proficient in Azerbaijani and Arabic and is a regional expert on the Caucasus and Central Asia. He was formerly an Analyst at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Strategic Assessment Center. His articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, and Jane’s Defense Weekly. Mr. Howard has served as a consultant to the private sector and governmental agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Intelligence Council and major oil companies operating in Central Asia and the Middle East.

6

Alla Hurska

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Alla Hurska is an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation (Washington, DC) and associate expert at the International Center for Policy Studies (Kyiv). She is currently conducting her research at the University of Alberta (Canada). Hurska’s areas of research concerns security, geo-economic and geopolitical issues in the post-Soviet area, including the Arctic region and geopolitics of gas and oil. She is also interested in the role of Russian disinformation, cyber operations and propaganda campaigns in influencing public opinion and decision-making in post-Soviet countries. Her articles and expert comments have been solicited by international think tanks, research institutions, and news outlets, including Diplomaatia (Estonia), ICPS (Ukraine), Kyiv Post (Ukraine) and, in Spain, CIDOB, Autonomous University of Barcelona, El Periódico de Catalunya, and El Confidencial.

4

Alexander Vershbow

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Amb. Alexander Vershbow, Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center on Strategy and Security in Washington DC

Ambassador Alexander Vershbow was Deputy Secretary-General of NATO from 2012 to 2016.  He was directly involved in shaping the Alliance’s response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, adapting NATO’s deterrence posture, and deepening NATO’s partnerships across the globe. Prior to his post at NATO, Ambassador Vershbow served for three years as the US Assistant Secretary of Defense for international security affairs. In that position, he was responsible for coordinating US security and defence policies relating to the nations and international organizations of Europe (including NATO), the Middle East, and Africa. 

 From 1977 to 2008, Vershbow was a career member of the United States Foreign Service. He served as US Ambassador to NATO (1998-2001), US Ambassador to Russia (2001-2005) and US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (2005-2008).  He also held numerous senior positions in Washington, including Special Assistant to the President for European Affairs at the National Security Council (1994-97) and State Department Director of Soviet Union Affairs (1988-91).  During his diplomatic career, he was centrally involved in strengthening US defence relations with allies in Europe and Asia and in transforming NATO and other European security organizations to meet post-Cold War challenges. He also was involved in efforts to support democracy and human rights in the former Soviet Union. 

 Alexander Vershbow received a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University (1974) and a Master’s in International Relations from Columbia University (1976).

3

Serhat Güvenç

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Dr. Serhat Güvenç Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University (Turkey)

Dr. Serhat Güvenç is a Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University, Istanbul where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Strategy, Turkish Foreign and Security Policy and Turkey-EU Relations. Recently his research focus has shifted onto Maritime Security in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. He, therefore, currently supervises masters’ thesis and doctoral dissertations mostly on maritime security and related topics. His areas of expertise are Turkish Foreign Policy, Turkish Defense, EU-Turkey Relations, Turkey-Greece Relations Naval and Maritime Security in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Previously, he served as the Associate Dean of College of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences. He is currently the Chair of International Relations Department.

13

Shota Gvineria

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Amb. Shota Gvineria, Lecturer of Baltic Defence College (Georgia)

Amb. Shota Gvineria joined the Baltic Defence College as the lecturer in Defence and Cyber Studies in July of 2019. Until then, he was a part of the Economic Policy Research Center since 2017. Earlier, Amb. Gvineria has been working on various positions in Georgia’s public sector. Among other positions, Shota Gvineria served as the Deputy Secretary at the National Security Council of Georgia. He covered NATO’s integration and security policy-related issues as the Ambassador at Large in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. In his previous capacity until August 2016, he held the position of the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Minister of Defense of Georgia. Through 2010-14, he served as the Ambassador of Georgia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 2010, Amb. Gvineria was promoted to the position of a Director of the European Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. Prior to that, he served as a Head of NATO Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. In the period from April 2006 until October 2008, Shota Gvineria was posted as the Counselor of the Georgian Mission to NATO. Amb. Gvineria holds an MA in Strategic Security Studies from Washington’s National Defense University. He also earned his MA in International Relations from the Diplomatic School of Madrid and Public Administration from the Georgian Technical University.

5

Antonina Cherevko

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Antonina Cherevko the Head of the Independent Media Council (Ukraine)

Antonina Cherevko has been a Policy and Law Reform Adviser with the INGO International Media Support (IMS, mediasupport.org) throughout 2016-2020. She started a collaboration with IMS in 2008 managing programmes and project initiatives in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Georgia. Cherevko is an experienced human rights lawyer with in-depth knowledge of the Eurasia politics, civil society and media sector as well as the related security dimension. She is the head of the Independent Media Council in Ukraine and a member of the Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Speech (ADI/MSI-DIS) of the Council of Europe. Cherevko’s thematic areas of expertise cover human rights (with the focus on freedom of expression and weaponization of information), rule of law, regional politics and hybrid threats, international development, policy analysis, project management, needs and risk assessment.

1

Bogusław Pacek

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Prof. Maj.Gen.(r) Bogusław PACEK, PhD, the professor in Jagiellonian University in Kraków,  NATO Adviser for Defence Education Reforms of DEEP Ukraine ( Poland)

Prof. Bogusław PACEK graduated from the University of Gdańsk in 1978. After starting his career as a professional officer in the Polish Armed Forces in 1979, he occupied various military positions in the Armed Forces and Military Police. In 2003-2006 he was the commandant of Polish Military Gendarmerie. In 2008-2009, he served as a deputy commander of the EU

operation in Chad and the Central African Republic. In 2009 he received his doctor habilitates degree in military sciences in the field of international security at the National Defence University, Warsaw. In October 2009, he was appointed as the Assistant Chief of Polish General Staff for the Land Forces and Special Forces. From November 2010 he served as the Adviser to the Minister of the National Defence, and from 2015, additionally as his Representative for the Social Pro-Defence Initiatives. He chaired several teams reforming the Ministry of National Defence. 

Parallel with his military career prof. Pacek has worked for over 20 years as a lecturer in different universities such as Jan Kochanowski University, National Defence University, University of Gdańsk, Naval Academy. From 2012 to 2014 he served as a Rector-Commandant of the NDU (before being retired). He is NATO Adviser for Defence Education Reforms and he was Academic Co-leader of DEEP Ukraine. Author of 20 books and about 200 articles.

2

Peter Pomerantsev

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Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Agora Institute, Co-director of  the Arena Initiative (UK)

Between 2017-  2020 he was a Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he was the director of the Arena Initiative, a research project dedicated to overcoming the challenges of digital era disinformation and polarisation. His book on Russian propaganda, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, won the 2016 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, was nominated for the Samuel Johnson, Guardian First Book, Pushkin House and Gordon Burns Prizes. It is translated into over a dozen languages and was dramatized on BBC Radio 4. His new book, This is Not Propaganda, was released in August 2019, and has been shortlisted for the Gordon Burns Prize.

Peter has testified on the challenges of information war and media development to the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the UK Parliament Defense Select Committee. He was a specialist advisor on the ‘UK Parliamentary Committee on Fake News’, and was a member of USC Annenberg’s ‘Transatlantic Working Group on Internet Content Moderation and Freedom of Expression’. He is a columnist at the American Interest and writes for publications including the NY Times, Granta and The Atlantic. Between 2002 and 2014 he was a television producer on documentaries and factual entertainment programs for major networks including Discovery Channel and the BBC. He continues to present and write radio documentaries for the BBC Radio 4, most recently on disinformation about climate change. 

Peter is frequently asked to host policy seminars at NATO, the EU, the UK FCO, German Foreign Office, U.S. State Department, as well as numerous public events. He has helped write in-depth policy recommendations on counter-propaganda and media diversity for both national governments and NGOs, including the UK Foreign Office’s Strategic Communication policies for Russia and the Western Balkans. He has given seminars and talks on the subject of propaganda and media at universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia and Princeton. He has been a fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna.

9

Hanna Shelest

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Hanna Shelest, PhD, Editor-in-chief at UA: Ukraine Analytica and Director of Security Programmes, Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”

Prior to this, she had served for more than 10 years as a Senior Researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine, Odesa Branch. In 2014, Dr Shelest served as a Visiting Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome. Dr Shelest was an adviser of the Working Group preparing Ukrainian Navy Strategy 2035. Previously she had experience in PR and lobbying for government and business, as well as teaching at universities. Her main research interests are the foreign policy of Ukraine, conflicts resolution, security and cooperation, especially in the Wider Black Sea Region and the Middle East. She has more than 50 academic and more than 100 articles in media published worldwide. Dr Shelest is a Rotary Peace Fellow 2010, Black Sea Young Reformer 2011, John Smith Fellow 2012, and Marshall Memorial Fellow 2016.

8

Pavlo Lakiichuk

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Pavlo Lakiichuk, Head of the Security Program of the Center for Global Studies Strategy XXI

Retired naval officer. From 2003 and until the occupation of Crimea by Russia  – Head of information projects at the Analytical Center “Nomos” (Sevastopol), deputy chief editor of the journal «Black Sea Security». Associate expert of Centre for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” in 2015-2016. Member of the Coordination Council at the NATO-Ukraine Civic League. His research focus includes state national security, international humanitarian and maritime law, Euro-Atlantic cooperation, history of naval arts. He earned a degree from the National Defence Academy of Ukraine.

12

Ihor Voronchenko

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Commander of the Ukrainian Navy Admiral Ihor O. Voronchenko.

A native of Kharkiv Province, Ukraine, Admiral Ihor O. Voronchenko graduated from the Army Armor College in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and was commissioned in 1986.

In the beginning of his military carrier, Admiral Voronchenko’s assignments in the operating forces include Tank Company Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, Tank Platoon Commander and Chief of Staff of Tank Battalion in the Military District of Belorus.

Since 1992, Admiral Voronchenko held various positions in the National Guard of Ukraine. In 1998, he was assigned as a Commanding Officer of the National Guard Regiment, 7th National Guard Division, Crimea, to be transformed into 501   Mechanized Regiment of the Ukrainian Navy.

In 2010, Admiral Voronchenko was assigned as Deputy Head of Ukrainian Navy for Coastal Defense. In May-December 2014, he was in charge of Antiterrorist Operation across Luhansk Province, East of Ukraine.

Between 2014 and 2016, Admiral Voronchenko occupied the position of Head of Personnel Directorate (J-1) of the General Staff of Ukraine.

From April 2016 till July 2016, he was Acting Commander of the Ukrainian Navy.

July 02, 2016, Lieutenant General Ihor Voronchenko was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral and appointed by President of Ukraine as Commander of the Ukrainian Navy.

August 24, 2018, Vice Admiral Ihor Voronchenko was promoted to the rank of Admiral.

In June 2020 Admiral Voronchenko was assigned for next position – Inspector general of Ministry of Defense.

Admiral Voronchenko is married and has a son.

26

Mustafa Aydın

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Mustafa Aydın, Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University (Istanbul), the President of the International Relations Council of Turkey

Mustafa Aydın is a Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University (Istanbul), and the President of the International Relations Council of Turkey. Previously, he worked at Ankara University (1994-2005) and Economy and Technology University (2005-2009) and was the Rector of Kadir Has University between 2010 and 2018. Professor Aydın was a guest researcher and/or lecturer at Michigan (1998), Harvard (2002, Fulbright fellow), and Athens (2003, Onassis Fellow) universities, as well as at Richardson Institute for Peace Studies (1999, Unesco Fellow) and the EU Institute for Security Studies (2003). He is a member of the International Studies Association (ISA), Turkish Atlantic Council, Turkish Political Sciences Association, European Leadership Network, Greek-Turkish Forum, and European Academy of Art and Sciences. Prof. Aydın’s areas of interest include international politics, foreign policy analysis, security issues related to Central Asia, Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Middle East, as well as Turkish foreign and security policies. 

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Iulian Chifu

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Iulian Chifu is a professor at the National Defense University Bucharest and an associated professor at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies Bucharest. He is the founder of the Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Center Bucharest, a research Center specialised in the research on international relations. Between 2011-2014 he was the Presidential Counsellor for Strategic Affairs, security and foreign policy of the Romanian President.

He acted as Advisor for Foreign Policy, Security and Defense of the Vice-President of the Romanian Senate (2006-2011). He is a writer of a daily op-ed in Evenimentul Zilei newspaper, run his blog in Adevarul newspaper and writes twice per week op-eds for deschide.md.

He is specialised in Conflict Analysis, Crisis Decision making and the post-Soviet Space. He is a member of the board of the Center for Energy and Resource Security – EUCERS at King’s College London, UK, a member in the International Advisory Committee of the Journal CBRNE-Terrorism-Newsletter, Athens, Greece, member of the Coordination Council of the Romanian Transatlantic Committee Casa NATO. He is author and co-author of more than 30 books on conflicts, crisis, post-soviet space and energy security.

His most important books are:

Post Soviet Space: Identity Reloaded (engl/rom), Bucharest, Politeia SNSPA Publishing House, 2005, Russia’s Foreign Policy in Putin’s Era, Curtea Veche Publishing House, Ocasional paper, CPCEW, Bucureşti-Kiev-Chişinău, 2007, Crisis management in Transitional Societies(engl), CRISMART SNDC, Stokholm, 2007, (with Britta Ramberg), Societal Security in the trilateral Region Romania-Ukraine-Republic of Moldova/Securitate societală în regiunea trilateralei România-Ucraina-Republica Moldova, (rom/engl), Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2008, „The Breakthrough Crisis” of a quick solution in Transnistria, a cognitive intitutional approach of the crisis decisionmaking(engl), Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2008, Crisis management in Transitional Societies(rom), Rao, Bucharest, 2008, (with Britta Ramberg),  The Russian-Georgian War. A cognitive intitutional approach of the crisis decisionmaking(engl), Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2009 (with Oazu Nantoi and Oleksandr Sushko), Moldova on the way to democracy and stability(engl, rom), Editura Cartier, 2005, NATO and the New Strategic Concept. Romania’s priorities(engl), Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2009, , The Security Decision in the Republic of Moldova(rom), Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2009, The Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis, 2009(engl/ucr), Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, Kiev 2010, The Russian-Georgian War and the decision makers reactions(rom), Curtea Veche Printing House, 2010,  Energy Security in the Wider Black Sea Region(engl), Curtea Veche Printing House, 2010, the Perception of Russia in Romania, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine(engl), Curtea Veche Printing House, 2010, Strategic Thinking, Institute for Political Sciences and International Relations of the Romanian Academy Printing House, Bucharest, 2013.. He also published the following books together with other co-authors: Iulian Chifu, Oazu Nantoi, Oleksandr Sushko, The perception of Russia in Romania, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine/Percepţia Rusiei în Romania, Republica Moldova şi Ucraina, Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucharest, 2010. Iulian Chifu, Oana Popescu, Bogdan Nedea, Religion and Conflict radicalisation and violence in the Wider Black Sea Region, Institute for Political Sciences and International Relations of the Romanian Academy Publishing House, Bucharest, 2012. Some hundred of articles in reviews, journals and newspapers in Romania and abroad.

16

Flemming Splidsboel Hansen

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Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies

Flemming Splidsboel Hansen holds a PhD in International relations from the University of Copenhagen. He also studied at Leeds and Tel Aviv Universities. Before joining DIIS he worked for the OSCE for 11 years as Member of the Academic Board of the OSCE Academy, Head of the Politico-Military Department, and Acting Director of Border Management Staff College. He also worked for 1 year at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and Royal Denish Defence College.

At DIIS Flemming Splidsboel Hansen is particularly interested in the post-Soviet space, including Russia and Ukraine. His thematic focus is on domestic developments, foreign policy and the use of military capacities, as well as information operations and the use of disinformation. As part of this, he studies the use of new technologies (in particular Artificial Intelligence) in the dissemination and combating of disinformation and in the collection and processing of data in the military battlespace.

17

Dimitar Bechev

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Dr Dimitar Bechev, Nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a research fellow at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (Bulgaria)

He previously held research fellowships at Harvard University, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, and headed the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Dr Bechev has written extensively on the EU’s external relations, the politics and modern history of Turkey and the Balkans, and Russia’s foreign policy. His book Rival Power: Russia in Southeast Europe (Yale University Press, 2017) explores Russia’s geopolitical role in the Balkans, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, the American Interest, Politico, Foreign Policy, and openDemocracy.

18

Dimitrios Triantaphyllou

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Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, Chair of the Department of International Relations, Kadir Has University, Istanbul (Greece)

Dimitrios Triantaphyllou has been a professor for international relations and Director of Center for International and European Studies at Kadir Has University, Istanbul since 2010. In 2006-2010 he was the Director-General of the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) in Athens, and Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece. Prior to that, he worked as an international affairs special Advisor to the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, responsible for EU Affairs. He holds PhD (International Relations) from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is an author of various books and researches dedicated to Black Sea regional security and international relations.

19

Frans Geraedts

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Frans Geraedts, philosopher, Founding partner of Governance & Integrity (Netherlands)

Frans Geradts is a scholar and practitioner in the field of integrity and anti-corruption with over 25 years of experience. His main work has been on the integrity of government organisations. He has used the recent progress in ethics and organisational theory to reinvent and develop the integrity systems of organisations. Frans has worked with government organisations around the world. He has implemented integrity and anti-corruption programs and installed integrity bodies in Dutch government organisations at municipal, provincial and ministerial levels. He has done the same in Belgium, the Caribbean and most extensively in Ukraine, where he has worked for the last 10 years building the now established anti-corruption department in the municipality of Lviv.

Over the last several years, Frans’ focus has been the work with civil society organisations. His speciality is the installation of integrity systems within organisations that include moral learning, the rendering of moresprudence and the detection and prevention of mission drift and institutional corruption. He has within that framework developed a comprehensive approach to safeguarding and to the fight against sexual harassment, an approach that has been widely adopted and copied. He is working on a similar systematic approach to inclusiveness and the fight against institutional racism. 

Frans was born in Heerlen, in 1956, in the coalmining district of the Netherlands. He studied psychology and philosophy at the University of Groningen. 

21

Dalia Bankauskaitė

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Dalia Bankauskaitė, Nonresident Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington ( Lithuania)

Dalia Bankauskaitė is a Nonresident Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington, D.C. and a Lecturer at Vilnius University Communication Faculty. Her research is focused on the concept of total defence, namely, the whole of society approach and building societal resilience by mobilizing and motivating society, the analysis of cognitive campaigns. She has extensive professional experience in strategic communication in Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia.  

Ms. Bankauskaitė holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics (LSE), UK and EMBA from the Baltic Management Institute (BMI) in Lithuania. 

20

Alya Shandra

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Alya Shandra, the managing editor at Euromaidan Press.

Alya Shandra is the managing editor at Euromaidan Press. She is a civic activist based in Kyiv and an expert in environmental and geography issues. ​Alya Shandra holds a MSc in geography and climatology from the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University and prior to Euromaidan Press was engaged in the international research projects “Climate and treeline dynamics in the Ukrainian Carpathians” and “200 years of Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Carpathian Basin,” as well as participating in environmental NGOs. She is the author of ’The Surkov Leaks’ report, which contributes to better understanding of how Russia is waging Hybrid War in Ukraine. Presently she covers Russian disinformation campaigns and hybrid war against Ukraine, reforms in Ukraine, promoting Ukrainian culture abroad, and others.

22

Batu Kutelia

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Amb. Batu Kutelia, Vice President of the Atlantic Council of Georgia and the Next Generation Leader fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership.

He served as the Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia, from January 2011 till November 2013. From 2008 until 2011 he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. 

In his previous capacities, he has been First Deputy Minister of Defense (2007-2008), Deputy Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs (2006-2007) and Deputy Minister of State Security (2004). 

From 2005-2006 he functioned as the Head of the Intelligence Service of Georgia. Before this, he was the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Department of the Ministry of State Security of Georgia and Director of the Political Security Department of the National Security Council in 2004, also numerous pol.-mil. positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Before turning into his diplomatic and political career Mr. Kutelia studied physics and holds a PhD in physics. However, he also holds a master in Public Affairs Administration. Mr. Kutelia is fluent in English, Russian and Georgian languages.

23

Mircea Mîndrescu

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Dr Mircea MÎNDRESCU, a Chairman of the Executive Academic Board of the European Security and Defence College, Brussels, Belgium, Senior Associate Fellow, New Strategy Centre, Bucharest, Romania and an Associate Professor, Romanian Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania

Brigadier General (ret.) Mircea Mîndrescu, MA, PhD is a Chairman of the Executive Academic Board of the European Security and Defence College, Brussels, Belgium, Senior Associate Fellow, New Strategy Centre, Bucharest, Romania and an Associate Professor, Romanian Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania. He is an experienced professional whose expertise spans over the most important domains of security, diplomacy and defence activities, namely operational military units and formations, military educational institutions, Ministry of Defence’s main bodies, defence planning and politico – military diplomacy.

He formerly occupied various positions, including:

Adviser to the Secretary of State, Ministry of Communications and Information Society, Bucharest, Romania

Adviser to the Secretary of State for Armament / Ministry of National Defence, Bucharest, 

Director of the Strategic Planning Directorate (J5) – Romanian Armed Forces General Staff, Bucharest, Romania

Deputy Commander of the Romanian Land Forces Operational Command, Bucharest, Romania

Commander of NATO Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre, Lisbon, Portugal

Associate Professor at the National College of Home Affairs, Alexandru Ioan Cuza Police Academy, Bucharest, Romania

Director of the National Defence College, Bucharest, Romania

Defence Adviser to the Romanian Ambassador to NATO, Brussels, Belgium

Acting Commander of a Special Operations Battalion

Director for Communication and Information Systems of a Military Formation

He holds a university degree in Communication and Information Engineering[1] and graduated, as well, from National University for Physical Education and Sports (1999, Bachelor degree – five years of studies). In 2001, Mircea Mîndrescu was awarded a scholarship at the Joint Services Command and Staff College (Advanced Command and Staff Course-5), Shrivenham, United Kingdom, which he graduated from in 2002. As well, King’s College, London University awarded him the title of Master of Arts (with Merit) in Defence Studies in the year 2003, following the graduation from an additional educational programme taken up while in the United Kingdom. Mircea Mindrescu holds a PhD in Military Sciences from the Carol I National Defence University in Bucharest, his thesis analyses the concept of strategic paralysis.

25

Oleksandr Filts

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Oleksandr Filts, President of the Ukrainian Union of Psychotherapists, public figure

Ukrainian psychotherapist, doctor of medical sciences, professor, head of the department of psychiatry and psychotherapy of the faculty of postgraduate education of Danylo Halytsky LNMU, former chief physician of the Lviv regional psychiatric hospital. In 2005-2007 he was the President of the European Association of Psychotherapists, today he is its vice-president. Author of more than 106 scientific papers, 5 textbooks, 1 monograph. In 2010 he was the organizer of the international security forum in Lviv “From the security of Ukraine to the security of Europe. Challenges of the 21st century».

24

Baiba Braže

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Baiba Braže, Assistant Secretary-General for Public Diplomacy

Ambassador Baiba Braže was appointed Assistant Secretary-General for Public Diplomacy in May 2020. She advises the Secretary-General on public diplomacy issues and directs the Public Diplomacy Division (PDD), which plays a key role in conveying the Alliance’s strategic and political messages to opinion formers and to the public in general. 

Baiba Braže was born in Riga, Latvia.  She holds two Masters degrees from the University of Latvia: one in Law (1990) and another in Communication Science (2002).

Ambassador Braže served most recently as Latvia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom (August 2016-early May 2020), prior to which she was Director-General Security Policy and International Organizations (June 2011-January 2016) and Director General of the Communications Directorate (February 2016-July 2016) at the Latvian Foreign Ministry in Riga.

Ambassador Braže previously served as Latvia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (July 2003-August 2008), prior to which she was Director of the Europe Department, served as Foreign Policy and National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister in Riga.  She has held numerous other posts since joining the Foreign Ministry in August 1993, both at home (Legal Department, International Organizations Department) and abroad (United Nations, New York).

In addition to Latvian, Ambassador Braže is fluent in English and Russian and speaks Dutch proficiently.

27

Thomas Erndl

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Thomas Erndl, Member of Parliament ( Germany)

Thomas Erndl is a Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag. Additionally, he is the acting head of the Subcommittee on Cultural and Educational Policy Abroad, which oversees the vast network of German cultural and educational institutions in the world. Mr Erndl is Deputy President of German Armed Forces Reservists Association and the head of the Foreign Policy Committee in his party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

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Project Manager

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