NDC Research Division

Today, NATO faces an increasingly volatile security environment. Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has plunged Europe into war for the first time in decades and confirmed the Alliance's embrace of collective defence; global strategic competition has also returned, with China’s economic rise continuing unabated and now accompanied by rapid growth in its armed forces. Meanwhile, along its Southern Flank, NATO continues to face non-traditional security challenges, including terror attacks by non-state actors and deteriorating governance; lastly, the pace of technological innovation is unrelenting, challenging our technological edge and concepts of future war.

Understanding these challenges requires careful analysis that distills their complexity into salient, actionable insights: that is why the NATO Defense College Research Division was established. Since 2007, the Division has served as the Alliance’s leading academic research institution. Enjoying the NDC's academic freedom, we strive to offer rigorous and independent analysis on the main issues on NATO's agenda. Our main topics of focus include strategic competition, NATO’s crisis management and cooperative security, and the future patterns of military innovation and warfare. We also address a range of geographic areas, including Russia, the Arctic, the Alliance’s Southern flank, and the Indo-Pacific.

While our publications are researched and produced in-house by NDC staff, we also publish manuscripts from subject matter experts around the world. These include our competitively selected research fellows, hailing from NATO itself (Eisenhower Fellows), Partnership for Peace (PfP), Mediterranean Dialogue, and Partners Across the Globe countries, as well as our Non-Resident Associate Fellows.

The Division also hosts and co-sponsors high-level events, bringing together NATO officials and experts from across the transatlantic community to discuss current NATO-related issues. Through our workshops and conferences – some of which organized in coordination with NATO HQ – we enable exchange between policymakers, academics, and industry experts, elevating the debate while crafting new insights for NATO’s defense and security policy.

Finally, the Research Division provides academic support to the NATO Defense College’s most important stakeholders – its course members. NDC researchers provide direct mentorship to the College’s Senior Course Members, contribute to the planning and conduct of the NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC), and regularly lecture in NDC courses.   

We hope you find our offer to be valuable and enlightening, and we welcome your feedback and suggestions for future research and outreach opportunities.

Florence Gaub (FRA/DEU), PhD
Director, Research Division

Rome, May 2023