Authors

Florence Gaub is Director of the Research Division at the NATO Defense College. In her work, Dr Gaub focuses on long-term trends, challenges and opportunities, and how to future-proof societies. Florence has authored numerous publications, her most recent book The Future: A Manual was published in September 2023.

Nicolas Minvielle is Director of Audencia's MSc in Innovation. Dr Minvielle is the author of 13 books on innovation and foresight, and co-founder of Making Tomorrow and Alt-A. A reservist with the French Army, he also serves as coordinator of the DGA's Combat Horizon Programme.

Contributor Bios

Ali Alkis is one of several Emerging Nuclear Security Leaders of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and is currently pursuing a PhD in nuclear security in Türkiye. Ali is deeply engaged in research on nuclear security, non-proliferation, and nuclear terrorism. His expertise extends to Turkish nuclear and foreign policies. Ali's contributions to the field include numerous articles, book chapters, interviews, and op-eds.

Commander Janette Arencibia is an accomplished Plans, Operations and Medical Intelligence (POMI) officer. Her career has taken her from combat tours in Afghanistan in support of the female Afghan National Army Security Unit to relief efforts in Haiti and more recently to the Defense Health Agency, Risk Management Executive Division where she currently serves as the Chief Operations Officer, Program Executive Office, Medical Systems/Chief Information Officer J6.

Thomas Boyd is an AI-strategist, lawyer and consultant from Houston, Texas. By day he is the Senior Director of Strategic Consulting at Evisort Inc., a technology company that has developed AI that can read and analyse contracts at scale. By night, he is an aspiring writer. He is a husband, father, and optimist 24/7/365.

John Carrola is a science and technology innovator who leverages his multidisciplinary expertise to tackle the complex challenges of the future. As an AI Solutions Architect at Booz Allen Hamilton, he leads research across diverse fields, from machine learning and complex systems to social science and national security, to anticipate disruptive technologies, to identify emerging social patterns, and to develop creative solutions. He is the co-author of What Online-Offline (O-O) Convergence Means for the Future of Conflict (2022).

Bruce Cinnamon is a Canadian writer and editor who currently works for the Public Diplomacy Division at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. His first novel, The Melting Queen, was published by NeWest Press in 2019. He is currently working on his second novel.

Théo Cholet is a French doctoral student at UCLouvain. His thesis focuses on the evolution of representations of a third world conflict within American popular culture since 1945.

K. Burak Codur is from Türkiye, and has been active in defence and aerospace for 25 years. He is currently working on training of AI systems. His science-fiction short stories have been published in Kafasına Göre, a literary magazine, and Yerli Bilimkurgu Yükseliyor, a magazine on science fiction, both in Turkish.

Andrei I. Cursaru is a Romanian EU Security & Defence Attaché and the Founder & CEO of Nexus Group AI & CYIS. He is a Strategic Foresight author whose notable works include 2099: Kyiv Summit and The Road to 2099 series. His current manuscript, Dragon's Ascent, is forthcoming from Routledge.

Sébastien Delmer is an Airborne Army Officer who read classics before joining the St Cyr Military Academy in 2005. He has held various command positions in France and overseas, notably in Africa and the Middle East. His book on leadership, Le reste est facile (éditions de l'Ecole de Guerre), has been awarded several prizes.

Frederik Elting is a German author who has been publishing short stories and poems in anthologies since 2015. Currently, he is also venturing into screenwriting.

Arvid Engholm is a Swedish freelance writer and has been active in science fiction for the last half decade. He also runs a writers' e-mail list since 1997. He is interested in popular science journalism and fiction (primarily short stories) with over 120 stories published thus far (the latest collection Rumtidsenligt or "Spacetimely" was published in 2023). His areas of specialization are space, technology history, computers and "quaint" culture.

Charlie Finch is an Austrian-born British biochemist who thought this idea was fascinating. This is her first published work.

Ádám Gerencsér is editor of Sci Phi Journal, laureate of the 2022 European Science Fiction Award for Best Magazine, and writes about the history of speculative fiction and the evolution of cultural ideas in English as well as in his native Hungarian. Professionally, he works in international relations. When not roaming the planet to uphold the EU's utopian ideals in multilateral fora, he enjoys quality time with his family and geeky friends in Brussels, Belgium.

Lieutenant Colonel Jérémy Gueye is from France and the Head of Doctrine and Lessons Learned within the French Air & Space Force. His tactical background is in air defence. His publications include fictional intelligence novel Le marcheur lunaire, 2021, and a Paris War College memoir L'e-sport, quels enjeux pour les armées.

Antoine Guillaud is French, a husband and father and currently living in Germany. By day he is a financial analyst, and by night he is an author of military science fiction, science fiction and fantasy. His works include Agent des Ordres (under the pseudonym Antoine Robert, Rivière Blanche 2013), More Majorum (Short Story in the Standing Fast on Foreign Shores anthology, 2022), Solasta Crown of the Magister (Fantasy CRPG, writer and world-builder, 2021).

Elliot James is a British strategic foresight practitioner with expertise in emerging and future risks, resilience building, disaster preparedness and emergency planning. He is currently working as Foresight and Resilience Analyst in the Rail Safety and Standards Board's Futures Lab, based in London. He has experience in academic research centres, start-ups, and think tanks, is a Fellow of the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems, co-runs the Foresight Social Club, and through his studio miniMAX is developing work using speculative design and anticipatory innovation to explore how societal resilience can be enhanced to disruptive future change.

Philipp Keller is from Switzerland and holds a PhD in mathematics. He has worked in reinsurance, as an insurance regulator, as a consultant, and as an advisor to the IMF, and is now Chief Risk Officer of Generali Switzerland. He lives at Lake Constance with his wife and son and loves reading science fiction. Apart from an essay published in the Financial Times, he has not written a science fiction novel yet, but aims to remedy that eventually.

Ogan Kitapci is a 38-year-old mechanical engineer and a sci-fi enthusiast who loves reading and writing science fiction stories. He is from Türkiye, and works as a renewable energy expert in the sustainability sector.

Marko Komšo is a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and is currently pursuing a PhD in international relations.

Dieter Korger is a German writer and systemic coach. His science fiction works include the novel Cyprus Tower and the short story Nur ein Werbespot!, which has been nominated for the Kurd-Laßwitz Prize for best German-language sci-fi story of 2024.

Cevdet Mehmet Kösemen was born in Ankara, Türkiye. He works as an artist, author, and researcher. His book credits include All Tomorrows, a best-read fictional future history of humanity. He also works as a copywriter for advertising agencies and PR companies.

Stephen Kotowych is a Canadian winner of the Writers of the Future Grand Prize, Spain's Ictineu Award, and is a four-time finalist for Canada’s Aurora Award. His stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in Canada, the UK, and the US, and have been translated into a dozen languages. His first collection of short stories, Seven Against Tomorrow, is available now.

Leo Kunnas is an Estonian freelance writer. A reservist since 2007, his hobbies are literature and history. He was awarded the annual Award of the Estonian Literary journal “Looming” in 1991, the 2nd prize in Estonian novel writing competition in 2000, and the Stalker Award for Science Fiction in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Lukas Lahtinen is a cadet at the Swedish Military Academy who has a passion for reading, sci-fi and fantasy. He has always wanted to write stories, and with this contribution has written a story that marries his interest of writing with philosophy and strategy.

James Lee is from the USA and is an Assistant Research Professor at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, as well as a former Eisenhower Defense Fellow at the NATO Defense College. His research interests are in US foreign policy and the security of Taiwan. His work has been published in EurAmerica, Business and Politics, the International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Strategic Studies, the Journal of East Asian Studies, and the Journal of Chinese Political Science.

Lorenzo Lena is from Italy and is a situational analyst specialized in international affairs. He holds a masters’ degree in Intelligence from the University of Udine, Italy. He has published various articles on military history and geopolitics, as well as related book reviews.

Lin Lune builds scientific fiction containing actionable solutions. As a young creative based in Canada, her/their work invokes deep thought about the human condition and prosocial futures. Lin Lune has been published in Stories from 2050, an EU funded climate fiction anthology. Other projects include a card game poetry video made with Brickyard Books, online workshops, and self-published chapbooks.

Giancarlo "magoo" Maragucci is a former fighter pilot of the Italian Air Force, with a long operational experience at the tactical and operational levels. He is presently working as a faculty member of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence Institute in Abu Dhabi.

Jaroslavas Melnikas (Jaroslav Melnik) is a Lithuanian sci-fi and surrealist writer of Ukrainian descent living in Vilnius. He is the author of fifteen books translated into English, French, German and other languages. He has been awarded many prestigious nominations and awards, including the BBC Book of the Year, Book of the Year in France, the finalist of the European award "Utopiales" for the best science fiction novel. In 2020, he was awarded the Lithuanian Government Prize for his contribution to Lithuanian literature and its promotion in the world.

Renata Šerelytė Mendeikiene is a Lithuanian novelist, literary critic, film scriptwriter, and essayist. She has written more than 30 works of fiction, which have been awarded various prizes and translated into many foreign languages.

Vitālijs Rakstiņš is a practitioner with more than 18 years of experience in the Latvian defence sector. He is currently the Director of the National Defence Service Department, Latvian Ministry of Defence and a researcher at Riga Stradiņš University. He is author of the books Diaries of the Information War (2023), Resistance Handbook (2023), Resilience (2023), and Digital Detox (2024).

Nicole Boyle Rødtnes is a Danish author who has published numerous books for children and young adults, including the dystopian series Oxygen Hunt, Oxygen Thief and City of the Black Widow. Oxygen Hunt and Oxygen Thief are about a future where oxygen costs money, while City of the Black Widow is about a future where men and women live entirely separately.

Michael Rühle is a retired NATO International Staff official whose responsibilities included policy planning and speechwriting, hybrid challenges, and energy and climate security. He is an Honorary Ancien of the NATO Defense College, and has published widely on international security.

Tiago Torres da Silva is a Portuguese writer and theatre director. He wrote song lyrics for hundreds of singers from Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Spain and Cuba. He wrote and directed dozens of plays, including It's the Sea, Alfonsina, it's the Sea; Don't Say Anything and On Top of the Trees. He is the author of several books, including Um s a mais, My Darling Television and Timbó. For his work as a lyricist, he received the Amália Rodrigues Prize in 2011 and the Voz do Operário Trophy in 2023.

Don Zwiers is from the Netherlands and is currently a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Leiden. He is a Cambridge graduate (St. Edmunds College, 2016) and teaches intercultural communication at various universities in Europe, funded by Erasmus+.

Project Development

Mary Di Martino - NATO Defense College Research Division Publications Assistant

Katja-Elisabeth Herrmann – Project Coordinator for the NATO 2099 Project

Alexander Kaplan - Project Coordinator for the NATO 2099 Project

Christoph Koeck - Media Editor for the NATO 2099 Project

Translation/Editing

Nicole Wright – Principal Interpreter, NATO Defense College Linguistic Services

Roddy Develle - Senior Interpreter, NATO Defense College Linguistic Services

Susan Vo - Senior Interpreter, NATO Defense College Linguistic Services

Olivier Beauchemin-Bonifacio - Senior Interpreter, NATO Defense College Linguistic Services

With many thanks for expert support to:

Bruno Tertrais

Alessandro Marrone

Gene Germanovich