Research Division hosts 2nd Annual Future Leaders Conference

The Research Division welcomed 30 young scholars, senior practitioners, and NATO officials for debate and discussion on NATO’s adaptation to a new era of strategic competition.

The conference began with an introductory panel chaired by Research Division Director Thierry Tardy alongside the Conference’s three senior mentors: Camille Grand, Distinguished Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment; Dominik P. Jankowski, Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary General at the NATO Policy Planning Unit (PPU); and Mark Webber, Professor of International Politics at Birmingham University and Non-Resident Associate Fellow at the NATO Defense College.

The first day’s discussions were rounded out by a panel of junior practitioners hailing from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS), the Belfer Center at Harvard University, and NATO Headquarters.

On the second day, participants were split into six working groups, with each group led by a senior speaker with relevant subject matter expertise. The working group topics included deterrence and defense, NATO enlargement, the war in Ukraine, NATO innovation policy, NATO-EU Cooperation, and NATO-China relations.

The conference concluded with an Oxford Debate, where participants dissected whether NATO is well adapted to the current international security environment.

The Future Leaders Conference is one of several Research Division initiatives aimed at elevating an emerging generation of young scholars, practitioners and thinkers. The Research Division is proud to continue this tradition with the 5th Annual Early Career Nuclear Strategists Workshop (ECNSW), to be hosted on 21-23 June 2023 at the NATO Defense College in Rome.

NDC Public Affairs Office