Keynote speakers
Following her studies, Mrs Hennis started working for the Directorate-General for Enlargement of the European Commission in Brussels. During that time, she spent two years working for the EC in Riga, Latvia.
From 2000 to 2002, she worked as a consultant for KPMG in Amstelveen, Netherlands, after which she became a political assistant to the Municipal Executive of Amsterdam, a position she held until 2004.
From 2004 to 2010, Mrs Hennis became a Member of the European Parliament for the VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy). As an MEP, she was a member of, among other things, the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
On 17 June 2010, Mrs Hennis became a Member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the VVD, focusing on security, police, equal treatment and disaster and crisis response.
On 5 November 2012, Mrs J.A. Hennis-Plasschaert was appointed Minister of Defence in the Rutte-Asscher government.
General Tom Middendorp is the Dutch Chief of Defence and holds the highest military position within Defence, making him the most senior military adviser to the Minister. On behalf of the minister, he is responsible for preparing and executing military operations carried out by the Netherlands armed forces. The Chief of Defence general Tom Middendorp is the military adviser to the Minister of Defence when decisions are being made about Defence policy. He also gives advice about any future military capabilities and deployment.
From his position in the Central Staff, the Chief of Defence directs the activities of the Navy, Army and Air Force. He is also in charge of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, when it is operating under the responsibility of the Minister of Defence.
General Tom Middendorp was appointed Chief of Defence on 28 June 2012.
André Kuipers is the first Dutchman with two Space missions to his name. At the time his second mission was the longest spaceflight in European history. André Kuipers spent a grand total of 204 days in Space: 11 days during his first flight, the DELTA Mission in 2004 and 193 days during the PromISSe mission in 2011/2012. On board the International Space Station (ISS), as flight engineer, he performed many diverse tasks including scientific experiments, coupling of spaceships and vital maintenance and repair work.
Since his return to Earth in July 2012, André has inspired large groups of people, young and old with enthralling talks about his exploits in Space, promoting Dutch and European Space activities.
Back on Earth André visited some of the threatened and endangered areas he had seen and photographed from Space. By reaching out to the public he hopes to increase our awareness of such issues and explains how we all should be extremely careful about the way we treat our magnificent yet fragile planet.
In 2013, André Kuipers was appointed as Ambassador of Teckniekpact - a Technology pact that was created by the Dutch government with the industry and the educational sector to stimulate young people to study science and technology subjects. André believes youngsters are the key to a sustainable future.
In 2013, André established the André Kuipers Foundation to support charities contributing to the sustainability of our planet, developing science and technology and providing for a successful future for our youth.
Monica Maggioni is an italian journalist. Currently President of RAI – the italian national public television – and Vice president of EBU – the European Broadcasting Union - she has been a war correspondent, editor and editor in chief for the main news outlets in RAI.
After qualifying for the first Master school of Radio and Tv Journalism (SGRTV) in Perugia, and a brief experience at Euronews, in Lyon, she starts her career as a crisis envoyee in 1996, for Tv7, the weekly magazine of Tg1 RAI. Between 2000 and 2002 she covers the most violent phases of the Intifada and Israeli-Palestian conflict. In 2003 she is the only italian journalist embedded with the Usa ground forces in Iraq during the second Gulf War. Since then she covers all major developments reporting from Baghdad.
In 2008 she moves to the USA to cover the presidential campaign that leads to the election of Barack Obama.
She anchors Tg1 and several other programmes. In 2010 she is Editor of the foreign news team, and later of the Special Features section at Tg1. In 2010 and 2011 she produces two documentaries, both premiered at the Venice Film Festival: “Ward 54” – later awarded the Prix Mitrani in Biarritz – and “Out of Teheran”.
In 2013 she is Editor in Chief of Rainews24, the all news channel of Rai. In August 2015 she is President of RAI. She has written three books: Dentro la guerra (Longanesi, 2005), La fine della verità (Longanesi, 2006), Terrore Mediatico (Laterza, 2015) and the essay Twitter and jihad (ISPI, 2015).
She is an active member of the Administrative Board of ISPI (institute for the Study of International Politics), Milan, of the Italian Encyclopedia Institute Treccani, and of European Council on Foreign Relations.
Major General Muniruzzaman (Retd) is a former career military officer who served 38 years in active duty. Commissioned in the Field Artillery, he commanded a Field Artillery r e g i m e n t and two artillery brigades. He has also commanded an Infantry Brigade and an Infantry Division. He served in a plethora of key operational staff appointments including as the Chief Operational Staff Officer of an Infantry division. General Muniruzzaman served as a faculty member at the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) and has lectured at the Armed Forces War College and the National Defence College in Dhaka. He had the distinction of serving as the Military Secretary (Principal Military Advisor) to the President of Bangladesh. He later served as the Director General and CEO of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies [BIISS] under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been an appointed as a Lifetime Honourary Advisor to the board of the institute. He was part of and led a number of military delegations to various countries and NATO exercises. General Muniruzzaman is an experienced peace keeper, he has taught the subject as a faculty member and has been a practitioner in the field. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operations Training (BIPSOT). He was a member and head of the country contingent to United National Transitional Authority in Cambodia ( UNTAC) and represented UNTAC in Thailand. During that tenure he worked very closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, Headquarters of the Royal Thai Army and other government departments in Thailand. He also had the distinction of heading the post-election UN Stablisation Mission in Cambodia (established under UN Security Council Resolution 880-1993). In his role as Chief of the 2 mission, General Muniruzzaman monitored the political and security stability situation of the country and acted as a link between the government of Cambodia and the UN Secretary General’s office in New York. General Muniruzzaman established the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) in 2007 upon his retirement from the Army. BIPSS focuses on the whole spectrum of security issues - traditional, non- traditional and trans-national security issues. General Muniruzzaman is also the current Chairman of the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC), a global advisory body of over 30 serving and retired General and Flag officers drawn from all continents. He is also an advisor on Climate Change and Energy Security at the G-20 consultative Process. He is a frequent speaker on international security and policy issues in the international conference and lecture circuit. He has spoken at a number of major international conferences across the world including IISS Asia Security Summit, Global Strategic Review, World Security Conference among others. Most recently he attended the Central and South Asia summit on Countering Violent Extremism in Astana, Kazakhstan. He has also been a resource person in a number of conferences on HADR issues organised by the United States Pacific Command. He sits on the board of the Council for Asian Transnational Threats Research (CATR). He was also selected to be a part of the core group for the formation of United Nations World Security University. In 2011 he was a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO). 3 General Muniruzzaman has a wide training and education background. He is an alumnus of the National University of Bangladesh, National Defence College, Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College, US Naval War College, Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies [APCSS] in Hawaii and the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2014, he was awarded the APCSS Alumni Achievement Award. He is also an alumnus of the Near East and South Asia Center and the National Defense University. General Muniruzzaman frequently appears on local and international media on issues related to South Asian security. In 2013, he testified before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives during a special hearing on Bangladesh. Earlier this year, General Muniruzzaman is a ‘Global Expert’ with Wikistrat and has led a number of global simulation studies. He has published numerous articles, special reports and chapters in edited books.
Will Roper is the founding Director of the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO). Established by Secretary Ashton Carter in 2012, the SCO imagines new—often unexpected and game-changing—uses of existing government and commercial systems: extending their shelf-life and restoring surprise to the military’s playbook. In addition to warfare strategies, SCO also analyzes options for revealing capabilities prior to conflict to increasedoubt, impose cost, or maintain deterrence against potential adversaries. Since 2012, SCO has grown from $50M to $900M per year in the current President’s budget. Its projects—many unveiled by Secretary Carter this year—span concepts like hypervelocity guns, multi-purpose missiles, swarming micro-drones, autonomous fast-boats, smartphone-navigating weapons, big-data-enabled sensing, 3D-printed systems, standoff arsenal planes, and many more. Whether by repurposing, teaming, or leveraging commercial investments, these projects create unconventional ways of warfighting that are lower in cost and faster in pace than traditional ones. Because of this, SCO is the first element of the Department’s evolving Third Offset Strategy. Prior to directing SCO, Dr. Roper served as the Acting Chief Architect at the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) where he developed 11 new systems, including the current European Defense architecture, advanced drones, and classified programs. Before this, he worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and served as a missile defense advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD/AT&L). His awards include the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Secretary’s Award for Excellence, USD/AT&L Award for Innovation, MDA’s Innovation and Technology Awards, and MDA’s Contractor of the Year.
Ms. Ana Saldarriaga, after graduating with honors as a Product Design Engineer, she worked for eight years in the world’s largest youth organization, AIESEC, present in 125 countries and with more than 100.00 members. She was elected as Global President in 2015 and 2016, becoming the first ever Colombian Citizen and Latin-American woman to hold this role since its foundation in 1948. After working for two years in Netherlands, she is currently based in Chicago working with education and adaptation strategies for the refugees settling down in this city. Throughout this journey, she has worked in more than 44 countries as a strong advocate to connect the role of Youth with the implementation of the SDGs, with particular emphasis in Gender Equality, Jobs and Economic Growth and Partnerships for the Goals.
H.E. Mr Darius Jonas Semaška is the Ambassador of Lithuania to the Netherlands. Before this post Mr Semaška was Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to the current President of Lithuania. He served as Ambassador at the Lithuanian Permanent Representation in the EU, was accredited as Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary (not resident to Republic of Serbia, Republic of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia). During diplomatic career H.E. was assigned for leading positions in the Lithuanian Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Frans Timmermans began his career in 1987 as an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. After taking part in the induction course for diplomats, he worked as a policy officer in the ministry’s European Integration Department from 1988 to 1990, before joining the Dutch embassy in Moscow as Second Embassy Secretary.
After a brief period back in The Hague as deputy head of the Ministry for Development Cooperation’s European Affairs Section, Mr Timmermans became a member of the staff of European Commissioner Hans van de Broek. He later became adviser and private secretary to Max van der Stoel, the High Commissioner on National Minorities for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
From 1998 he was a member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party (PvdA). In that capacity, he dealt principally with foreign affairs. He was chair of the Permanent Committee on Economic Affairs and represented the House of Representatives in the European Convention.
In the fourth Balkenende government, from February 2007 to February 2010, Mr Timmermans was Minister for European Affairs. After the fall of that government he returned to the House as the PvdA’s spokesperson on foreign policy.
On 5 November 2012 Mr Timmermans was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Rutte-Asscher government. Since 1 November 2014, Mr Timmermans is the European Commission’s First Vice-President, responsible for better regulation, inter-institutional relations, the rule of law and the Charter of fundamental rights.
Party political positions and outside activities
Frans Timmermans has held a large number of positions in the areas of politics and culture, including (but not limited to):
- representative of the House of Representatives in the European Convention on the Future of Europe
- member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Western European Union
- supervisory director of Roda JC football club
- member of the advisory committee of Kamp Vught National Monument
- member of the advisory committee for the 2012 Treaties of Nijmegen Medal
- member of the advisory council of the European Cultural Foundation
- guest lecturer at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’.
Rob Wainwright was born in 1967 in Carmarthen, Wales, UK. Having graduated in 1989 from the London School of Economics, University of London with a BSc, he worked for the following ten years as an intelligence analyst in the UK in the fields of counter-terrorism and organised crime.
Between 2000 and 2003, Mr Wainwright was the Head of the UK Liaison Bureau at Europol, and also responsible for the Europol National Unit in London. The Liaison Bureaux are a key link in Europol’s cooperation with the EU Member States. In 2003, he was promoted to the position of Director International of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), where he was responsible for its international operations and for developing and implementing the UK strategy against facilitated illegal immigration. He also managed the UK’s National Central Bureau for Interpol and its Europol National Unit.
Between 2006 and 2009, he was Chief of the International Department of the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). In this leading role, he oversaw 20,000 law enforcement cases each year as well as establishing the international strategy and operational capabilities of the newly formed agency. His mandate extended from SOCA’s international operations and global partnerships to the worldwide network of SOCA liaison officers and the national bureaux for Interpol and Europol.
Mr Wainwright was appointed Director of Europol in April 2009. He was reappointed for a second term in 2013, having overseen Europol’s transition from intergovernmental organisation to EU agency status in 2010, ensured Europol’s pivotal position in the new EU Policy Cycle for serious and organised crime from 2011, and secured the establishment of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) at Europol in 2013. Under his command Europol has also established the new European Counter Terrorism Centre an European Migrant Smuggling Centre, both in 2016.
Mr Wainwright’s main priorities as Director have been to focus Europol’s efforts on operational impact in priority crime areas while achieving savings in running costs. During his tenure, the number of cases initiated at Europol has more than tripled, to around 40,000 in 2015, and Europol has significantly strengthened its portfolio of operational support tools and services.
Mr Wainwright has twice chaired the World Economic Forum’s ‘Global Agenda Council on Organised Crime’ and was on the steering board of its ‘Partnering for Cyber Resilience’ project.
Rob Wainwright is married with three children. He speaks English, Welsh and Spanish and his interests include history and literature.
Breakout speakers
Beating the odds when it comes to gender competitiveness in the rural areas of Darfur, Mrs. Abdelgabar excelled academically from an early age on allowing for a higher education. On completion of her Bachelor in Accounting at the Omdurman University in Sudan, she worked as Financial Inspector at the Sudanese Ministry of Finance. After a Masters degree in Public Policy & Administration at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, she proceeded as lecturer at the Omdurman University for two years followed by two years on a PhD track as AIO at the Twente University. Extending her knowledge to the IT field, Mekka amongst other also obtained Microsoft Certified System Engineering (MCSE+) certificates.
Mrs. Abdelgabar, expert in development and gender issues has extensive and interwoven experience in both the Sudanese as Dutch working fields. Established in 2005, Mrs. Abdelgabar founded a Darfur women’s NGO in the Netherlands (VOND) in solidarity with the women of Darfur. As one of the signatories to the Dutch National Action Plan (NAP) she started working with women leaders of CS organizations and vowed to tackle conflict issues by training and empowering women. In her belief that women in conflict are the main afflicted party and therefore are capable of bringing peace, she focuses on creating women mediation committees in order to tackle issues holistically.
Mrs. Abdelgabar coordinated a progam called LEAP (Women’s Leadership for Peace Building in Darfur) in 2015 – 2016. Beside promoting the political participation of the women leaders; LEAP dealt with various issues such as peace building, mediation techniques, security, diversity, etc. LEAP’s target groups are 16 Darfuri women leaders of CBO and over 50 women from affiliated CBOs from the five states of Darfur. As a coordinator of the program LEAP, Mrs. Abdelgabar supported the 16 women to form a network called WAP-Darfur (Darfur Women Alliance for Peace).
Provoked by the painful tribal war between the tribe of her father and the tribe of her mother which continued for four years; while tribal fightings became usual in Darfur, Mrs. Abdelgabar created a professional committee of women mediators from these women leaders which is unique to Sudan. Together they are determined to interfere between the conflicting tribes and the rebel groups in order to convince them to reconciliate and to sign peace agreements to end the war in Darfur. In planning the mediation activities the women mediators developed their own mediation methodology based upon certain criteria. Led by Mrs. Abdelgabar the committee successfully mediated in three tribal conflicts; in the North, South and West states of Darfur. These women’s mediations are widely recognized by the Darfur community, by the governments and the security people as the most effective and badly needed means to achieve peace in Darfur.
Floris Alkemade is Chief Government Architect (Rijksbouwmeester) as of 1 September 2015.
The Chief Government Architect protects the architectural quality of the Dutch state property and their incorporation into the urban area as a whole. He is a Dutch architect, urban designer and former partner of Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). He gives lectures and seminars at universities in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. In August 2006, Alkemade opened his own office and is currently director of FAA and FAA/XDGA. Alkemade works on complex projects both within the Netherlands and abroad. He stands out due to his attention for infrastructure and logistics, as shown by the area development and incorporation of the TGV station in the center of the French city of Lille, as well as studies for the A12 and other Dutch motorways. Themes such as rezoning and urban development are also an important part of his work.
Alia Aoun is the Senior Legal Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs and International Law to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon. She is a member of the Paris Bar and belongs to the list of counsel of the International Criminal Court since 2008.
Ms. Aoun is an Expert in International Criminal Investigations (Justice Rapid Response certification).
She teaches criminal and international law in Paris and has extensively published in these fields.
Ms. Aoun is an advocate of a global legal response to the Foreign Fighters phenomenon. During the Paris Conference on Religious and Ethnic Violence in the Middle East organized by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 2016, Ms. Aoun presented ideas paving the way for an international legal coalition.
In The Hague, she held the position of Deputy Head of the Defence Office at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon from 2010 to 2012 where she notably contributed to the writing of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
Since 2006, Ms. Aoun heads a lawyer’s organization dedicated to the promotion of the rule of law in Lebanon, Avocats et Juristes pour le Liban.
Juma Assiago is and urbanist and social scientist, who works at UN HABITAT. He coordinates the Safer Cities Programme, which assists stakeholders to build capacities at the local level to enhance urban security and establish a culture of prevention in developing countries. Mr. Assiago worked in local government capacity, building on the development and implementation of citywide crime prevention and urban safety strategies. Currently, Mr Assiago is involved in the Global Network on Safer Cities, including the development of UN Guidelines on Safer Cities, the documentation of the community of practice on safer cities, and designing a citizens safety awareness and participation global campaign towards Habitat III Safer Cities+20 in 2016.
Edwin Bakker is a Research Fellow at ICCT, Professor of (Counter-)Terrorism Studies at Leiden University, and Director of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of that same university. He studied Economic Geography (Netherlands) and Political Geography (Netherlands and Germany). In 1997, he defended his PhD thesis on minority conflicts in Slovakia and Hungary. He taught classes in international policies on preventing and managing separatism and intra-state war in the Balkans at the Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management (CICAM), Nijmegen University. Between 2003 and 2010 he was a fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ where he headed the Clingendael Security and Conflict Programme (since 2007). His research interests are, amongst other, radicalisation processes, jihadi terrorism, unconventional threats to security, and crisis impact management.
Jaya Baloo the CISO of KPN Telecom in the Netherlands. She won the Cyber Security Executive of the year award in 2015. Jaya works with an amazing information security team of highly driven specialists. Working in the information security arena for the past 18 years, she has worked mostly for global telecommunications companies such as Verizon and France Telecom. Jaya is also a frequent speaker at security conferences on subjects around lawful interception, mass surveillance, and cryptography.
Anna is the Country Director for War Child Holland in the occupied Palestinian territories. She holds a Masters in clinical child psychology and a PhD in adolescent brain development and mental health, and has worked in health, education and psychosocial support for children in emergency settings in Asia, Africa and the Middle East
Author and journalist Tijs van den Boomen is specialized in public space, the domain ranging from motorways to city centers and from industrial areas to shopping malls.
He publishes in national newspapers (NRC Handelsblad, Het Parool), magazines (De Groene Amsterdammer, De Gids) and online media (Archined, Spiegel Online).
He wrote books on infrastructure and city planning, on highways, on roundabout art, on shopping & control space as well as an alternative travel guide to Holland.
www.tijsvandenboomen.nl
Ana Barros is a principal scientist at TNO and examiner for the Dutch Police Academy.
After completing her Master degree on Operational Research and Statistics, she obtained a PhD degree at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1995. Her PhD thesis “Discrete and Fractional Programming Techniques for Location Models” received the INFORMS Best Dissertation on Location Analysis of 1995 award. In the last eighteen years she has been actively involved in international defence, security and logistics projects. As Principal Scientist she is responsible for encouraging innovation and knowledge sharing and ensuring technical quality of projects and research programs in the areas of Operational Analysis and Complex Systems. Between 2009 and 2016 she was a Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Defence Academy and between 2014 and 2015 the chair of the Kruyt society (TNO’s think-tank consisting of the 25 TNO Principal Scientists).
She is currently a member of the board of the Netherlands Platform for Complex Systems (and chairs one of its committees, that aims bridging the gap between complexity scientific research and industrial and societal needs) and vice-chair of the NATO research platform on System Analysis and Studies. She is also active in the scientific field where she has published several papers scientific journals and acts as peer-reviewer for both scientific journals as Dutch grant institutions. Her academic experience also includes supervision of several Master and PhD. students, as well teaching, as part of the regular curriculum at several Universities, the Netherlands Defense Academy, the Dutch Defense Intelligence and Security Institute (DIVI) and the Dutch Police Academy.
Her involvement in several international (cooperation) projects and activities, together with her academic experience and strong communication skills facilitate the establishment of links between practice and theory in an international environment.
Joel van der Beek is part of Design for Legacy, together with Malkit Shoshan and Erella Grassiani. He is a board member of Economists for Peace and Security (www.epsusa.org). He is the Chief Economist at EconoVision economic research and GM at EconoTalent staffing solutions. He is the key person behind the blog Economists on conflict at the Institute for Economics and Peace (economicsandpeace.org) Joel is an economist with a passion for everything finance and economics and how these disciplines could truly benefit all of mankind and our planet in a sustainable way. His aim is to find ways to harmonize economic norms with ethical perceptions. He operates mainly in Europe and Africa.
He has published on the economics of logistics and transport, development economics, economics of conflict, spatial planning and climate change.
He is one of the initiators of the Complimentary Currencies for Climate Change. Its publication “Solar Dollars: The World Currency to Price and Finance Carbon Mitigation” has been awarded as Grand Prize Winner at the 2015 MIT Global Climate Action Plan Contest.
Tjipke Bergsma, has a solid track record in commercial and charity organisations. In his career, he has worked in African and Latin American countries and was Programmes Director at War Child, the CEO of Plan Netherlands and Regional Director Americas of Plan International. Since 2015 he is CEO at War Child Holland.
Ieva Bērziņa is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security and Strategic Studies, National Academy of Defense of the Republic of Latvia. She obtained a PhD in political science (comparative politics) from the University of Latvia. Her doctoral thesis compared Western political consulting techniques with Russian political technology, and explored their impact on political campaigning practice in Latvia. Before academic career she gained practical experience in the field of marketing and communication. Her current research interests cover such interdisciplinary areas as Russia’s information warfare, “colour revolutions”, the rhetoric of political leaders, political marketing and strategic communication. Her recent academic publications include such articles as „Perception of the Ukrainian Crisis Within Latvian Society” (2016), „Political Campaigning Environments in Latvia: From a Global to a Local Perspective” (2016), „Zapad 2013 as a Form of Strategic Communication” (2015), „Foreign and Domestic Discourse on the Russian Arctic” (2015), „The Russian “Colour Counterrevolution” Model for Containing Geopolitical Expansion by the West” (2015). She was and editor of the research project „The Possibility of Societal Destabilization in Latvia: Potential National Security Threats” (2016). She participates in NATO StratCom Centre of Excellence project „Russia’s Activities in Information Environment in Nordic-Baltic Countries” (2016-2017).
Sergei Boeke is a Research Fellow at ICCT and Researcher at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA). After completing Officer training for the Royal Netherlands Navy, he studied law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, specialising in international and criminal law. After graduation he held several posts in the Navy, serving on different warships and with the Second Marine Battalion, deploying to Southern Iraq in 2003-4. After a short posting as fellow at the Netherlands Institute for International Relations Clingendael, he joined the diplomatic service and worked for the Department of Political Affairs in The Hague. Moving back to the Ministry of Defense in 2008, he was involved in supporting the Dutch comprehensive approach mission in Afghanistan. In 2011, he completed a 9 month training for civil servants at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in Strasbourg, France. His areas of research include cyber-security governance and terrorism in the Sahel.
Arjen Boin is a professor of Public Institutions and Governance at the Department of Political Science, Leiden University. Arjen has published widely on topics of crisis and disaster management, public leadership, and public institutions. His most recent books include The Politics of Crisis Management (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Governing after Crisis (Cambridge UP, 2008), Designing Resilience (Pittsburgh UP, 2010), MegaCrises (Charles C Thomas, 2012) and The EU as Crisis Manager: Patterns and Prospects (Cambridge UP, 2013). Arjen is a founding member of the European Societal Research Group and a Director of Crisisplan (an international crisis consultancy).
Brett Boudreau is a retired colonel and a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He worked with the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat for a year as it began its work in 2012.
Lieutenant General H. (Harry) van den Brink EMPM was appointed Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee on 05 November 2015.
Lieutenant General Van den Brink started his career at the age of 17 as a Royal Netherlands Marechaussee security guard. He then worked with the security unit at Soestdijk Palace, with the Schiphol Airport Border Control Brigade and with the then 101 Marechaussee BaOalion of 1 (NL) Corps.
Per completing the NCO training course, in 1985 he briefly worked as an instructor, before starting his officer training. In the rank of lieutenant, Harry van den Brink then took up the role of Deputy Commander of 104 Squadron, Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. Other positions included Project Leader for Disaster Response, Royal Netherlands Marechaussee Aviation District (in the rank of major), Commander of the General Police Services Brigade at Schiphol and Chief of Staff, Schiphol District (in the rank of lieutenant-colonel).
Over the years, Van den Brink has followed Advanced Military Studies, obtained a degree in Dutch Law and attended the Strategic Leadership Studyat the School for Police Leadership. From 2008 to 2011, the then Colonel Van den Brink was Commander of the Defence Human Resources Division, which is part of Support Command. In 2011, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and became Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee Schiphol District. From September 2014, Van den Brink was Deputy Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee in the rank of major general.
As Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, Lieutenant General Van den Brink is also the Governor of the Residency (The Hague) and consequently he is also responsible for military ceremonies held in that city, such as Prinsjesdag (Opening of Parliament).
Prof dr Adelbert Bronkhorst received his masters degree in experimental physics in 1982 from the University of Amsterdam and his PhD in 1990 from the medical faculty of the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam. Since 2005 he professor by special appointment at the Cognitive Psychology department of the VU. His research interests include human perception, attention, and human factors. He was employed as a clinical audiologist and deputy head of the Audiological Department at the VU Medical Center from 1983 to 1989. Subsequently, he went to TNO in Soesterberg, where he worked as researcher, group leader, department head, research manager, and business line manager. He is currently Principal Scientist Defense Research.
Dr. Jan-Willem Burgers works in Capgemini’s Global Blockchain Practice as the Lead for Europe. He has been active in the Bitcoin and distributed ledger ecosystem for several years, and was involved with several startups before joining Capgemini in August 2016. Jan-Willem holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Australian National University.
Jacki Davis is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator
of high-level events both in Brussels and in EU national capitals, the editor of many publications, a regular broadcaster on television and radio news programmes, and a Senior Adviser to the European Policy Centre think tank. Jacki has been based in Brussels for 21 years, and was previously Communications Director of the European Policy Centre think tank; Editor-in-Chief of E!Sharp magazine; and launch editor of European Voice, the Brussels-based weekly newspaper owned by The Economist.
Jacki has moderated many conferences in Brussels and in EU Member States, and also has extensive experience in planning events. She can provide not only top-quality moderation of the event itself and ensure lively and highly interactive debates, but also advice and guidance on how to plan a successful event, how to frame the debate and brief speakers to deliver the desired outcomes etc.
She is also an experienced public speaker on EU affairs, and a provider of training courses on everything from how to communicate more effectively in writing to public speaking and working with the media.
WO=MEN, Dutch Gender Platform is Europe´s largest network of development-, diaspora-, women´s rights and gender justice organisations, peace activists and (former) military, academics and entrepreneurs. Together they strive for gender justice worldwide. WO=MEN is the co-developer and coordinator of three Dutch National Action Plans 1325.
With its members WO=MEN has built up years of experience and expertise on the local implementation of UNSCR 1325 and has a large track record on training of NATO units on gender in operations, such as the first German/Dutch corps. Also, WO=MEN is an active member of the Common Effort community which aims to further develop and implement an integrated approach and better understanding between civil society and military.
Anne-Floor Dekker has a large track record of working with refugee women, men and youth. She trained people from conflict areas to enable them to engage in decision making processes on the local and national level. At WO=MEN Anne-Floor is the Sr. policy officer Gender, Peace & Security and the coordinator of the GPS workgroup, in which about 120 civil society organizations are represented. Anne-Floor advocates gender justice in (post) conflict areas and lobbies for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and related NATO and EU directives in Dutch foreign policies on humanitarian aid, development, defence, safety & justice and trade. She links and translates relevant (inter)national developments and knowledge on GPS to (inter)national policy fields. She advises the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence on cooperation with civil society and on the possible gendered impact of missions on societies.
Fulco van Deventer is the Co-founder and Deputy Director of the Human Security Collective (HSC) and Associate Fellow at ICCT. He has extensive experience in the fields of security, counter-terrorism, countering violent extremism, de-radicalisation, human rights, human security and resilience as well as justice and reconciliation. He started his career as a consultant on governmental reform in the Caribbean Island States and on post-war reconstruction in Lebanon. In a long-term assignment for Dutch funding agencies he worked with a variety of civil society organisations in South-East Asia, India, Colombia, Guatemala, West-Africa and the Middle-East in building their institutional and strategic capacities.
For the past ten years he has focused on strengthening the capacity of civil society actors in conflict areas and fragile states to enhance their role in conflict prevention, security and countering violent extremism. At HSC and ICCT, he works on the nexus between counter-terrorism measures, security and civil society engagement, as well as facilitating dialogue to set adequate conditions for civil society to play an effective role in security issues. He is also involved in ICCT’s Civil Society Engagement project in Nigeria and supports the implementation of United Security Council Resolutions through regional and national workshops.
Puck van Dijk (The Hague, 1985) works as a philosophical facilitator, moderator and trainer in the public and commercial sectors. She studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam (BA) and the Free University (MA). She also works as a professional theater director and drama teacher (Amsterdam School of the Arts, 2008). Puck is the co-founder and artistic director of PLAY productions where she creates interdisciplinary performances which consist of film, theater, venue, music and new media.
Nikola Dimitrov is a Distinguished Fellow at The Hague Institute for Global Justice. In his 18 years of public service in foreign and security policy, Dimitrov has served as Deputy Foreign Minister (2000), National Security Adviser to the President of the Republic of Macedonia (2001), Macedonian Ambassador to the Netherlands (2009-14) and to the United States (2001-06). His other posts include National Coordinator for NATO (2006-2009), Special Envoy for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration in Brussels, Chief Negotiator in the talks between the Republic of Macedonia and the Hellenic Republic under the UN auspices, Member of the PCA, Co-Agent before the ICJ, and a Permanent Representative to the OPCW. Dimitrov studied law at the St. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and received his L.LM degree in International Law from the University of Cambridge, UK. He joined The Hague Institute in April, 2014, where his work inter alia centers on democratic governance, rule of law, stability and European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Southeast Europe. Dimitrov has been a guest contributor to the NYT, FAZ, PoliticoEU, EUobserver, EurActiv and tweets at Dimitrov_Nikola. He is a member of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group.
Agnes chooses to address complex societal issues. She is a social engineer with a background in social sciences and mediation/negotiation. Her work for the Dutch National Police, the Dutch National Army and the Dutch Refugee Council provided her with a basis for security and safety sensitivity. Within Stillare she combined her knowledge and experience in analysis, mediation, large scale psychology and change management. She works on approaches and methodology to improve societal resilience by human factor. Key competence and main asset is her ability to operate in very diffuse and complex circumstances and conflict situations.
Agnes started the Placemaking programme, greening the deserts in MENA and Africa, combined with citybuilding for refugees to plan an active approach in border security. Agnes is founder of Stillare. Stillare is a network of scientists and practitioners that work on the programmes that Stillare initiates or is invited to address. She designs and executes programmes and large-scale-systemic approaches for safety, security and stability issues. Key issues are community security and violence, nepotism and corruption, undermining terrorism, deeply felt differences between clans or within groups and inclusive governance in fragile or developing areas/states. She worked in Kurdistan Iraq, Liberia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and currently she is preparing for security and stability issues in Somalia.
Walter Dorn is a Professor at the Canadian Forces College and Chair of the Master of Defence Studies programme at RMC. He was cross-appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Department of Politics and Economics at RMC, and a faculty member of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. He is a scientist by training (Ph.D. Chemistry, Univ. of Toronto), whose doctoral research was aimed at chemical sensing for arms control. He assisted with the negotiation, ratification and implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). As CWC programme coordinator at Parliamentarians for Global Action (1992-93), he addressed parliamentary committees in nations on several continents to support the ratification and implementation of the treaty. His interests are now broader, covering both international and human security, especially peacekeeping and the United Nations.
He has extensive experience in field missions. In 1999, he was a district electoral officer with the United Nations Mission in East Timor. He also served with the UN in Ethiopia (UNDP project) and at UN headquarters as a Training Adviser with UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He carried out research in conflict areas in Central and South America, Africa and South East Asia. He served on the UN’s Panel of Experts on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping.
Since 1983, he has served as the UN Representative of Science for Peace, a Canadian NGO, and addressed the UN General Assembly in 1988 at the Second UN Special Session on Disarmament. In the United States, he was a Senior Research Fellow at Cornell University (Einaudi Centre for International Studies, 1998-2000), a consultant to Yale University (United Nations Studies, 1996), a visiting scholar at the Cooperative Monitoring Centre (Sandia National Laboratories, NM, 1999) and adviser to the Federation of American Scientist (Biological Weapons Control expert group, 1990).
At the University of Toronto, he was a Research Fellow with the International Relations Programme as well as the Peace and Conflict Studies Programme, and the Physical Science Don at Trinity College.
In 2001/02 he was the inaugural DFAIT Human Security Fellow (academic). He is now working on a book tentatively titled “The Emerging Global Watch: UN Monitoring for International Peace and Human Security”.
Isabelle Duyvesteyn is Professor of International Studies/Global History at the Institute of History at Leiden University and Special Chair in Strategic Studies at the Institute of Political Science both at Leiden University in the Netherlands. She completed her PhD at the Department of War Studies at King’s College in London. Previously she has worked at the Royal Military Academy in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Institute for International Relations. Her research interests include the nature of war and peace in the developing world, irregular warfare and strategy, the history of terrorism and counter-terrorism, strategic culture and intelligence. Her work has been published in several journals, among others, Civil Wars, Security Studies and Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. She is a member of the national Advisory Council for International Affairs assigned to advise the Netherlands government on issues of peace and security, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Netherlands Defence Academy and a member of several book and journal editorial boards, notably Small Wars and Insurgencies.
Anne received her PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Leeds in 2015. Her research interests include peacekeeping training and its socialisation properties, liberal peacebuilding as well as African peace and security efforts. She has conducted fieldwork in Ghana, South Africa and Rwanda.
Mr. Keir Giles is the director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre (CSRC), a group of deep subject matter experts on Eurasian security formerly attached to the United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defence. Now operating in the private sector, CSRC provides in-depth analysis on a wide range of security issues affecting Russia and its relations with overseas partners. After beginning his career working with paramilitary aviation in Russia and Ukraine immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union, Mr. Giles joined the BBC Monitoring Service (BBCM) to report on political and military affairs in the former Soviet space. While still working for the BBCM, Mr. Giles also worked for CSRC at the UK Defence Academy where he wrote and briefed for UK and North Atlantic Treaty Organization government agencies on a wide range of Russian defense and security issues. He is the only double Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, UK, as well as a regular contributor to research projects on Russian security issues in both the UK and Europe. Mr. Giles’s work has appeared in a wide range of academic and military publications across Europe and in the United States.
Erella Grassiani is an anthropologists and assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam. She is the author of Soldiering under Occupation processes of Numbing among Israeli soldiers in the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Her current research is part of a wider project on privatization and globalization of security with a specific focus on Israel and security mobilities (SECURCIT) and it traces the flows of the (Israeli) security worldwide and look at the way cultural ideas, technologies and consultants move around globally.
I am working as Corporate Social Responsibility manager for Accenture Netherlands. In this job my focus is to contribute to the world in which we work and live by making a sustainable and social impact on people that experience a distance to the labor market. Together with my colleagues, non-profit partners and corporate clients we fight youth unemployment, help to skill and employ groups like refugees and Wajongers and enable social entrepreneurship. All with the goal to increase economic independence worldwide. What I love about this role is that all efforts contribute to a positive change. By connecting smart employees and providing the right technology we can create big impact, both to ourselves as to society as a whole.
Maurits Groen is an international sustainable entrepreneur. In 2012 he and his companion founded the social enterprise WakaWaka. The organization develops and produces light sources as well as chargers, functioning on solar energy. Worldwide 1.2 billion people lack access to (safe) light and electricity In addition to WakaWaka, Mr. Groen is the director/founder of the environmental communications consultancy MauritsGroen*MGMC and printing company, and laid the foundation of several sustainable initiatives.
Drs. Kitty van der Heijden is the Director of WRI’s Europe Office. She brings a distinguished diplomatic career with notable accomplishments in sustainable development and humanitarian aid to the global research organization.
Kitty represents WRI’s vision and strategy in Europe, and is responsible for managing WRI’s liaison office, based in The Hague, where she facilitates engagement with European governments, businesses, and institutions. She works in close collaboration with WRI’s President and Executive Team, its Program and Center Directors, and its Country Directors in India, Brazil and China. Kitty leads WRI’s engagement in the post 2015 Development Agenda, and also embraces work on the international climate regime; the role of the private sector in development; global indicators on resource productivity and efficiency; and inequality.
An economist by training (Erasmus University Rotterdam), with hands-on experience in sustainable development, her career has been guided by a motivation to ensure dignified living conditions for all of human society within planetary boundaries. Prior to joining WRI, Kitty was the Ambassador for Sustainable Development and Director of the Department for Climate, Energy, Environment and Water in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. She was responsible for policy development on environmental global public goods and managing the sizeable aid budget of the Department.
She led the Netherlands delegation to the Rio+20 summit and was appointed the Netherlands representative on the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to her secondment to the UN in Hanoi, Vietnam, where she managed the ‘One UN’ pilot to enhance effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of UN field operations. Kitty also represented her government in a multitude of UN fora in New York.
In 2013, she was elected the 3rd best civil servant of the Netherlands, and was awarded a national Ribbon of Honor for her efforts to raise public awareness on the challenges and opportunities of a truly sustainable development pathway. In 2014, she was elected as “Influencer of the Year” among civil servants, and listed as 20th in the top 100 most influential people in the Netherlands dealing with sustainability.
Kitty’s passion for – and knowledge of - sustainable development is exemplified in her presentation at TEDxHaarlem, entitled “Sustainable Development: What, Where and by Whom?“.
Kitty enjoys her work, her family, and cooking (not necessarily in that order). She has been with her partner Bengt for almost a quarter of a century, and their two children Magnus and Elin adore nature as much as they do.
Monika Sie Dhian Ho is the General Director of the Clingendael Institute. Before joining the Institute she was the director of the Wiardi Beckman Stichting (WB Foundation), a social-democratic scientific bureau. She lectures at the Netherlands School of Public Administration and is vice president of the European Integration Committee of the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV).
Jonathan works as a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders and teaches international politics at the Free University Brussels. His research focuses on the impact of China’s rise on global politics, but hee also has a strong interest in Europe’s position in the changing global order.
Dr. Patrick Huntjens is Senior Researcher for the water diplomacy initiative at the Institute. He tackles issues related to the governance, law, prevention and resolution of water-related disputes around the globe.
Dr. Huntjens has a multi-disciplinary background, including a Ph.D. (magna cum laude) in Complex System Sciences and Policy Sciences, and two Masters degrees in Biology and Political Science & International Relations (cum laude).
Before joining the Institute, Dr. Huntjens was Director of the Water Partner Foundation, a non-profit organisation established in The Hague. In recent years, Dr. Huntjens was leading several international projects on water diplomacy, water governance and climate change adaptation in the Middle East, South East Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
In the past 15 years, Dr. Huntjens has been working in 38 countries, assigned by a wide variety of clients, e.g. European Commission, United Nations, World Bank, National Governments of The Netherlands, Pakistan, Turkey, Kosovo, Vietnam, and several NGO’s. As such he has developed expertise and practical experience on (adaptive) water governance and institutions, water diplomacy and negotiations, international relations, participatory and strategic planning, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, adaptive and integrated water resource management, capacity building, and institutional strengthening.
Dr. Huntjens’ Water Management and Water Governance in a Changing Climate (2011) has been published in several languages, and has been endorsed by the 2009 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, Prof. Dr. Elinor Ostrom. The work strengthens the conceptual foundations and practical value of adaptive approaches to water management and water governance in a changing climate. On the basis of a broad comparative analysis of policies and practices in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, it focuses on the capacity of management regimes to cope with the two most common extreme weather events: floods and droughts.
Dr. Huntjens has also published many peer-reviewed articles in renowned international journals, a wide range of book chapters, consultancy reports, and policy reports and has made a number of media appearances.
Charles Iceland is Aqueduct Director at the World Resources Institute (WRI). Aqueduct is the most current, comprehensive, and high-resolution global water risk assessment and mapping tool available. Charles oversees Aqueduct’s strategy development and management, and is currently working to develop an Aqueduct Global Flood Risk Analyzer with a number of Dutch research partners.
Charles previously partnered with several major multinational corporations, including Mondi Group, Rio Tinto, Akzo Nobel, and BC Hydro, to develop, road test, and apply an innovative methodology for assessing corporate risks and opportunities stemming from ecosystem change. Prior to that, he worked at the World Environment Center, where he developed innovative supply chain environmental management pilot programs for Alcoa, Johnson & Johnson, Dow Chemical, and General Motors. He has also worked at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the United States House of Representatives, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. In addition, he worked in the banking and finance sector for several years and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Charles earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. He, his wife Debbie, and sons Matthew and Josh live in Bethesda, MD.
Fareed Ismail is an academic at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) located in the Western Cape, South Africa. He has 9 years academic experience with prior 16 years Naval Engineering experience in the submarine design authority environment. He obtained his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2013 at CPUT. He is a key figure in a Community Outreach Programme; using his Doctoral research, he implemented a project that spans beyond the confines of academia, by expanding the field of multidisciplinary knowledge in the areas of Engineering, Design, Renewable Energy, Marine life and Agriculture, thus enriching the lives of women and children in an impoverished community in the Western Cape. Fareed has received the CPUT Outstanding Community Engagement Award in 2015 and his community project won the SA local and provincial Early Childhood Development Programme Awards during the same year.
Jeroen de Jonge is business director naval programs at TNO, the Netherlands’ leading Research and Development Institute, since 2014. He joined TNO in 2012 after serving 31 years as an officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy. His assignments include serving as operations officer on frigates, commanding two smaller vessels, and several postings as a Defence staff officer until the rank of commander. He was educated at the higher staff college of the Ecole Militaire in Paris (1999) and completed a Master’s degree in political science at Leiden University (2012). At TNO, he was responsible for the two previous editions of the Future Force Conference: for the Royal NL Army (2013) and for the Chief of Defence (2015).
Rene de Jongh graduated in 1994 from Delft University of Technology in Electrical Engineering. From 1994 till 1998 he worked at Delft University of Technology on ultra-wideband antenna measurement techniques and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). Since 1998, Rene de Jongh is working for Thales Nederland on diverse topics including Integrated Topside Design for naval platforms and design of phased array radar systems. Today, he is responsible for global strategy and marketing of the Thales Group Surface Radar business line.
Ms. Sigrid Kaag of the Netherlands is currently the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon.
Ms. Kaag previously served as the Special Coordinator of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Mission to eliminate the chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic, from October 2013 to December 2014.
She previously served as Assistant Secretary‑General with the United Nations Development Programme from 2010 to 2013 and as Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Jordan from 2007 to 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Kaag held several senior positions with UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Before joining the United Nations system in 1994, she served her country in its Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ms. Kaag also worked for Shell International Petroleum Company in London.
Ms. Kaag holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Middle East studies from the American University in Cairo, a Master of Philosophy in international relations from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University and a master’s degree in Middle East studies from Exeter University. She is fluent in Dutch, English, French and German, and proficient in Arabic.
Kilian Kleinschmidt is an international networker, humanitarian, and refugee expert with over 25 years of experience in international development, emergency response, resource mobilisation, and political/regional cooperation. He is the founder and chairman of the startup Innovation and Planning Agency (IPA) which aims at connecting marginalised parts of the globe with the technological resources and know-how needed to catalyse change. IPA’s mission is to “democratise access to global knowhow by combining the best of global and local resources and networks into a unified co-creation ecosystem of innovation with disadvantaged communities”. They match technological, social, financial and spatial innovations with the needs, talents and skills of dispossessed populations in several service lines. This approach challenges the humanitarian aid sector through a range of new and unorthodox partnerships, technologies, and financing instruments. He also advises the Austrian Ministry of Interior on Refugee issues, and has become known as the “Mayor of Za’atari” for his management of the Za’atari refugee camp in Northern Jordan, where he was the ‘Senior Field Coordinator’ for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 2013–2014. Here, he succeeded in transforming Za’atari - the second largest refugee camp in the world - from a chaotic and crime-ridden place, into a thriving and stable community. Believing that refugee camps are the cities of tomorrow, and refusing to see them simply as temporary housing settlements, Kilian is interested in activating the vast human potential of refugees by transforming camps into inclusive cities and self-sustaining living environments.
Previous senior roles at the UN include deputy humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, deputy special envoy for assistance to Pakistan, deputy UNHCR representative in Kenya, acting director for communities and minorities in the UN administration in Kosovo, executive secretary for the Migration and Refugee Initiative (MARRI) in the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and many field based functions with UNHCR, UNDP, and WFP. He has worked extensively in Africa, South Eastern Europe, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. His humanitarian work with the UN has predominantly involved work in high conflict zones around the globe, such as in Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1989), in Somalia during the Battle of Mogadishu (1993), in Sri Lanka as a liaison to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, and in Congo (1997) where he coordinated the rescue of Rwandan Hutu refugees trapped in the rainforests. He is well-respected as a humanitarian advisor, previously serving as a consultant to the World Bank as well as the World Food Programme.
A current project of IPA’s includes the development of high-tech ‘Fablabs’ equipped with 3D printers, enabling opportunities for refugees to co-create innovative solutions. Two-hundred thousand Syrians lost limbs due to the war, and with 3-D printing technology prosthetic limbs can be manufactured very quickly, and at a fraction of the cost (down from $2000 to $20). Connected to this, and other planned technological interventions, his current ambition involves research into developing fast-track financing instruments and tools to ensure these investments, which he believes to be the primary obstacle to rolling out these kinds of catalytic technologies and solutions on a much broader scale. He believes that humanitarian agencies should look beyond investments in first aid solutions, and invest in jobs, energy, and water, ensuring that financial investments are absorbed and locked into communities with feedbacks, rather than simply evaporating from them after initial relief.
Dr Khalid Koser is Executive Director of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. Dr Koser is also Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Research Associate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Non-Resident Fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney and extraordinary Professor in Conflict, Peace and Security in the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences at the University of Maastricht. He is also chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Migration, and editor of the Journal of Refugee Studies. Dr Koser is a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Michael Kolenbrander (Vlaardingen, 1984) works as a solution architect, project manager and domain expert in blockchain technology at Capgemini’s Global Blockchain Practice.
Kolenbrander leads the team of developers and is responsible for the technical design, architectural modelling and implementation of blockchain based solutions for Capgemini’s clients in the financial, insurance, public and retail sectors.
He has been actively involved in the Bitcoin and blockchain ecosystem for 5+ years and has extensive theoretical and technical knowledge of public and private distributed ledger systems, proof of work mining, machine consensus models and cryptographic systems.
Rear admiral Luc-Marie Lefebvre graduated in 1983 from the Naval Academy and started a career as a Naval officer and specialized in weapon systems “Gunnery Missiles”.
During his first years serving the Navy and until 1994, he was appointed in the Med Sea onboard the light frigate “PM L’her”, the anti-submarine warfare frigates “Georges Leygues”, “Jean de Vienne” and the aircraft carrier “Foch”.
He commanded the patrol ship “La Tapageuse” in French Polynesia from 1994 to 1995. He then participated to the established maritime surveillance and support operations of the State at sea in the Polynesian archipelagos.
He was back in 1995 in the Med Sea zone as he was appointed at the Headquarters of the Naval Action Forces where he was in charge of the follow-up on commissioned “artillery missiles”. He returned at the heart of the Naval Forces in 2001 as the executive officer of the ASW frigate “Montcalm”. From 2002 to 2003, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) within the Naval Action Forces headquarters; an assignment onboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during which he participated to the pre-deployment preparations for the third Gulf war.
He took the command in 2003 in Toulon of the Lafayette Class frigate “Aconit” until 2005. He was involved in numerous allied exercises, a mission to fight terrorism in the Indian Ocean, to the last “Amarante” off the Lebanon coast and complete a deployment in the Black Sea, integrated within a NATO Naval Force. He also took part with the frigate “Aconit” to the first onboard trials of the NH90.
He then joined from 2005 to 2006 the French Maritime Force (FRMARFOR) as DCOSOPS and COS CVBG and took the command of the ASW frigate “Montcalm” in Toulon from 2006 to 2008.
From 2009 to 2011 he served as Joint Chief of Staff of High command of armed forces in New Caledonia. He then dealt most particularly with the adaptation of the forces and support setup in New Caledonia, following the reorganization of sovereignty forces.
In September 2014, he was appointed Organic Deputy in Toulon of the Admiral commanding the Naval Action Forces. As such, he is in charge of the organic follow-up of all Navy units based in Toulon, and of all units and naval bases positioned in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
On January 18th, 2017 he has been appointed as Deputy Operation Commander for EUNAVFOR MED operation Sophia mission.
He is married to Véronique and the father of six.
He is Officer of the Legion of Honor, and Officer of the National Order of Merit.
Helena is a Director at Deloitte Consulting where she leads a High Tech Competence Center in the Netherlands. Helena specializes in delivery of large scale transformation programs, starting from strategy definition to the full life-cycle of the transformation. In the recent year, Helena’s focus has been ecosystem strategy and development, and leveraging latest disruptive technologies (IoT, Data Science) to identify sources of new value creation for the corporate and public sector clients.
In 1982 Jaap Lombaers received a MSc degree with honors in Industrial Design Engineering (Delft University of Technology). In 1996 he became manager of TNO’s Product Development Division involving mechanical, electronics hardware and embedded software groups. In 2001 he became board member TNO Industrial Technology, coordinating the research programming of this institute. As of 2014 he is Director of TNO’s business in ‘Flexible and Free-form Products’, including large-area electronics (Holst Centre), thin-film PV (Solliance), additive manufacturing / 3D Printing and medical diagnostic devices. He is vice-chairman of the Board of the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A), member of the Board of NanoNextNL (the national Dutch program on micro- and nanotechnology applications) and of the Board of Solliance. He is vice-president of Photonics21, the European public-private partnership on photonics.
She is involved in a number of projects looking primarily at the role of education in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, urban violence and local governance. She also specializes in economic sanctions and Iran-U.S. relations. Agnese previously worked at the Secretariat of the Knowledge Platform Security Rule of Law as Project Officer and Researcher.
She holds a Master’s Degree in international Relations and European Studies from the University of Florence, with a thesis on South African Relations with China and the economic and political impact of this partnership at regional and international level. She previously studied at the University of Palermo and at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Rennes, in France.
Besides short working experiences in the public administration and NGOs during the studies, she specialized in EU foreign policy toward Africa, working from September 2012 for the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU, where she focused on Common Security and Defense Policy and EU-Sub-Saharan Africa Relations. In March 2013, Agnese joined the African Directorate of the European External Action Service, where she focused primarily on EU relations with South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Rick Meessen is currently Principal Advisor for Defence and Security at TNO, the Netherlands’ leading Research and Development Institute. He completed his study in Mathematics and Operational Research in 1988. After that he served for 2 years in the Dutch Army. In 1990 he started at TNO, where he held several positions: project and program manager, department manager, business unit manager. Between 2014 and 2016 he was director defence research at TNO and member of the NATO Science and Technology Board. His interests and expertises are: strategic defence analysis, modeling and simulation, geopolitics, future operations.
Ortrun Merkle holds a MA in Economics, a MA in International Relations and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Security Studies from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, NY. Prior to that, she received a B.Sc. in Business Administration and Economics from the University of Passau, Germany and spent a year at the Helsinki School of Economics. Her PhD thesis focuses on the role of corruption in state-building and specifically the role of civil society and the impact of corruption on the political participation of women. During her PhD she has been a visiting reseracher at the Peace Research Insitute Oslo (PRIO) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS).
Previously, Ortrun has worked for the Corporate Compliance Department of Daimler and at Transparency International USA, she has extensive training in mediation and is a certified intercultural trainer.
Ortrun is currently a vistiting researcher at UNU-Gest in Reykjavik.
Antonio Missiroli became Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies in October 2012.
Previously, he was Adviser at the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA) of the European Commission, in charge of European dialogue/outreach (relations with think tanks and research centres across the Union and beyond) and publications (2010-2012); Director of Studies at the European Policy Centre in Brussels (2005-2010), and Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at the W/EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris (1998-2005). He was also Head of European Studies at CeSPI in Rome (1994-97) and a Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford (1996-97).
As well as being a professional journalist, he has also taught at the Universities of Bath and Trento, as well as Boston University and SAIS/Johns Hopkins (Bologna). He is currently visiting lecturer at the College of Europe (Bruges) and Sciences Po (Paris).
Dr Missiroli holds a PhD degree in Contemporary History from the Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa) and a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from SAIS/Johns Hopkins University.
Roeland Monasch is the CEO of Aflatoun International (http://www.aflatoun.org). The NGO offers social and financial education in over 100 countries through an innovative social franchise model. The programme reaches four million children and young people each year, empowering them to make a positive change for a more equitable world. They become agents of their own future through Aflatoun’s method, which allows them to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and inequality, turning dependence into independence.
Roeland is a national of the Netherlands, holds a Masters’ degree in Sociology from the University of Groningen and has an additional degree at MA level in Development Economics. Over the last decade he has published extensively in the international scientific literature, especially on issues related to Orphans and other Vulnerable Children.
Rt. Hon. Baroness Neville-Jones DCMG served as the UK Special government representative to Business for Cyber Security “ an appointment by Prime Minister David Cameron that she has held from the time she stepped down in May 2011 from being Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism at the British Home Office with a permanent position on the newly created National Security Council. Prior to serving as a Minister in the Coalition government, with a seat on the House of Lords, she was David Cameron’s national security adviser while in opposition and the author of much of the Conservative party’s national security policy. She is patron of “Cyber Security Challenge” in the UK.
Daniel Noort (1965) obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands on a combined organic chemistry/toxicology subject in 1992. Subsequently, he joined the CBRN department of TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research) as a research chemist. He is mainly involved in projects concerning chemical synthesis and diagnosis and dosimetry of exposure to xenobiotics, e.g., TICs and chemical warfare agents. In 2011, Dr. Noort was appointed as one of TNO’s twenty Principal Scientists (within approximately 3500 employees). Dr. Noort is partially responsible for the OPCW Designated Laboratory status of the TNO laboratory, for both environmental and biomedical samples. In 2014 Dr. Noort worked as a visiting scientist for 6 months at Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA) within the framework of the Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program (ESEP). He is author and co-author of approximately 80 peer-reviewed papers.
Tom Nuttall works for The Economist and covers European politics and economics in the Charlemagne column. He moved to Brussels in August 2014. Before that he worked as US west coast correspondent in Los Angeles for two years, and as an editor on the Europe desk.
Before joining The Economist he worked as an editor at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank, and spent several years as a senior editor at Prospect magazine.
Dr Marina Otero Verzier is Head of Research and Development at Het Nieuwe Instituut. Previously she was based in New York, where se was Director of Global Network Programming at Studio-X, a global network of research laboratories for exploring the future of the built environment with locations in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Mumbai, New York, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo, which was launched by the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation at Columbia University GSAPP in 2008. She was Adjunct Assistant Professor at the same institution.
Otero studied architecture at TU Delft and ETSA Madrid. In 2013, as a Fulbright Scholar, she graduated from the M.S. in Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture at GSAPP. She earned her PhD from ETSA Madrid in 2016. Otero has taught seminars and studios at ETSAM, Barnard College, and Columbia GSAPP, and lectured at a number of universities around the world, including AA London, Harvard GSD, EPS Alicante, AHO, and Ryerson University.
Her work, recently awarded by The Graham Foundation and Fundación Arquia, has been published in different books and journals.Otero has co-edited Promiscuous Encounters (GSAPP Books, 2014), Unmanned: Architecture and Security Series (Dpr-Barcelona, 2016), After Belonging: The Objects, Spaces, and Territories of the Ways We Stay In Transit (Lars Müller Publishers, 2016). She was Chief Curator of the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2016 with the After Belonging Agency, and co-curated exhibitions at The 2013 Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale and the Istanbul Design Biennial 2014, among others.
Since 2012, she develops a project titled ‘Architectures of the Raid on Osama Bin Laden Compound in Abbottabad.’ Her current research is concerned with how changing notions of privacy and safety have an effect on our contemporary cities and spaces of residence.
For over 20 years, Stef has focused on consulting projects and has managed professional services practices. Stef has extensive experience with international transformation projects, outsource advisory, business process redesign, working capital reductions, change management, and implementing ERP/CRM solutions.
Christopher Paul is a senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He is also a member of the adjunct faculty in the Center for Economic Development in the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to joining RAND full-time in July 2002, Paul worked as an adjunct at RAND for six years and on the statistics faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2001–02. Paul has developed methodological competencies in comparative historical and case study approaches, evaluation research, various forms of quantitative analysis, and survey research. Paul received his Ph.D. in sociology from UCLA.
Cynthia Petrigh is an international expert in humanitarian negotiation and dissemination of humanitarian norms, with more than 20 years’ experience of intervention in conflict and post-conflict situations. Her Company Beyond peace specialises in providing support to peace processes and training armed forces and non-state armed groups on international norms.
Cynthia’s career highlights include: Founding member of the International Contact Group in support of the Malaysian mediation for peace in Mindanao; Executive Director of Nassim Centre for the rehabilitation of victims of torture (Lebanon); facilitator for Arab women’s groups active in community-based mediation and conflict resolution (Sanaa 2014, Istanbul 2014, Toledo 2016); training of Malian armed forces in IHL, human rights and prevention of sexual violence (EUTM Mali, 2700 soldiers trained); International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and human rights Expert for the cease-fire monitoring mission in Mindanao (International Monitoring Team).
In addition to these frontline activities, Cynthia Petrigh has had the privilege to lecture at INALCO, Paris; the San Remo Institute; Scuola Sant’Anna, Pisa, UK Defense Academy, Srivenham and University Prince of Songkla, Thailand. In France, she is a Judge at the French National Court for asylum-seekers.
Dr. Richard Ponzio is a Non-Resident Fellow and Project Director for Just Security 2020: Advancing the Recommendations of the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance at The Stimson Center. Previously, he directed the Global Governance Program at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, where (in partnership with Stimson) he served as Project Director for the Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance. He is formerly a Senior Adviser in the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he conceptualized and coordinated Secretary Hillary Clinton’s and later John Kerry’s New Silk Road initiative. He has served with the United Nations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, New York, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and the Solomon Islands. Dr. Ponzio has published widely, including Democratic Peacebuilding: Aiding Afghanistan and other Fragile States (OUP, 2011) and Human Development and Global Institutions: Evolution, Impact, Reform with Dr. Arunabha Ghosh (Routledge, 2016). He has undertaken studies in political economy and international relations at the University of Oxford (DPhil/PhD), The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy (MA), The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies-Geneva (MA), and Columbia University (BA).
An international communications expert and civic activist, Nataliya Popovych is a Co-Founder of Ukraine Crisis Media Center and the President of Be—it (former PRP), one of the leading communications consultancies in the post-Soviet countries. With over nineteen years of working in Ukraine, the USA and Russia, Nataliya is safeguarding reputations of clients in the emerging markets as well as promoting territories in the international arena. Nataliya specializes in consulting organizations on reputation strategy, brand development, executive coaching, crisis management and strategic communications programs. Natalia’s clients and projects in the public sector range from the President’s Administration of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kyiv City State Administration, Lviv Regional Administration to The Economist Government Roundtable and UEFA, while among private sector clients there are numerous Fortune 500 and leading local companies and organizations. After the Revolution of Dignity, Natalia has embarked on leading state strategic communications reform project in Ukraine under the auspices of the President’s Administration of Ukraine and building strategic communications capacity across a number of government agencies in Ukraine, as well as developing a unified information policy for the country. Natalia is a founder of the DiscoverUkraine professional civic initiative and the co-founder and deputy chairman of the board of the Ukraine Crisis Media Center, a communications hub which is amplifying Ukraine’s voice internationally. Recently, she has co-founded Changers leadership consultancy together with Oksana Semenyuk to provide organizations in private and public sector with solutions in leadership and human capital development. Nataliya is a Master of Science in journalism and mass communications (USA) and MA in political science and sociology (Kyiv Mohyla Academy).
Specialist Operations is an independent Amsterdam-based office for research and design. Specialist Operations was founded in 2006 and is led by Jan Willem Petersen. He is a spatial planner, architect, and researcher based in the Netherlands. He oversees an interdisciplinary team to develop strategies and shape processes for urban transformation.
Specialist Operations initiates and undertakes projects that rebuild resilient urban and conflict-affected environments. It is a pioneering development expert on cities in conflict, often responding to questions derived from disciplines beyond architecture and urban planning. The office designs spatial interventions, develops strategic (planning)frameworks, and conducts fieldwork and analytical research, particularly in relation to nation-building. It supports governments, international organizations, and local communities by providing spatial analysis, planning, in-depth urban research, and design.
Petersen is a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture (2005, Hons), and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (2003) and has published, taught and been visiting critic at several universities and colleges across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Dr. Alastair Reed is Acting Director of ICCT. Prior to this he was Research Coordinator and a Research Fellow at ICCT, joining ICCT and Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs in the autumn of 2014. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, where he completed his doctorate on research focused on understanding the processes of escalation and de-escalation in Ethnic Separatist conflicts in India and the Philippines. His main areas of interest are Terrorism and Insurgency, Conflict Analysis, Conflict Resolution, Military and Political Strategy, and International Relations, in particular with a regional focus on South Asia and South-East Asia. His current research projects address the foreign-fighter phenomenon, focusing on motivation and the use of strategic communications.
Before joining IES Christof Roos worked as research associate at University of Bremen (2007-2014) where he received his PhD in 2012. At Bremen International Graduate School for Social Sciences and the Collaborative Research Centre “Transformations of the State” he researched EU integration in Justice and Home Affairs. His focus is on EU immigration politics as well as single market issues such as freedom of movement, Schengen cooperation, and the common European asylum system. In 2013 he published his PhD Cracks in the Walls of Fortress Europe? The EU and Immigration Policies with Palgrave Macmillan. As a member of the interdisciplinary research project “From Containers to Open States. Border Regime Change and the Mobility of Persons” he was co-author of the project monograph Liberal States and the Freedom of Movement. Selective Borders, Unequal Mobility. He studied political science at Free University Berlin (2000-2006) and at York University Toronto (2003-2004). Questions of in-and exclusion and the right to membership and community are core to his studies. He teaches in the EuroMaster program of IES the course “Diversity Politics in Europe” and gives lectures on EU migration, asylum, and border policies at the Collège of Europe (Bruges).
Outside of academia Christof Roos worked for the European Commission’s DG Joint Research Centre in Ispra (Italy). There he contributed to a study on emigration from West African countries (2006-2007). In 2013 and 2014 he worked on the European strategy on Roma Inclusion and on the European Smart Cities and Communities Initiative in the European Affairs Department of the Senate Chancellery of the city of Berlin.
An architect by training, Najib Saab is Secretary General of Arab Forum for Environment & Development (AFED), a regional organization dedicated to promote sound environment policies, employing science and public awareness. He is founder and editor-in-chief of Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment & Development) the leading pan-Arab magazine on sustainable development since 1996. Saab is laureate of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global 500 Award for environmental achievements in 2003, and of the Zayed International Prize for the Environment in 2011 for environmental action leading to change in society. His monthly column on environment, which is simultaneously published in 12 newspapers, influenced major policy shifts, mainly with regard to climate change, pricing resources and green economy. He is editor of the series of annual reports published by AFED on the state of Arab environment, which covered topics including: Water- Sustainable Management of a Scarce Resource, Impact of Climate Change on Arab Countries, Green Economy in a Changing Arab World, Survival Options- Ecological Footprint in Arab Countries, Sustainable Energy, Food Security, Sustainable Consumption, and Development Goals in a Changing Arab Climate.
Diego Salama joined UNU-MERIT in May 2013 as Research Assistant to the Education Director and and currently works as a Communications Officer. He supports the management of the Communications Office, with responsibilities encompassing strategy, programme and project management, liaising with UN and other organizations, institutional governance and reporting. Prior to this he worked for the United Nations in Latin America at the Department of Public Information
His research interests are mainly focused on peacekeeping, global governance and international organisations. He co-edits a UNU Blog Series on the Challenges to Peacekeeping in the 21st Century and authors articles on peacebuilding, multilateral affairs and development.
Diego works as associate project manager of the UNU Jargon Buster App project, which aims to help further and clarify cross-interdisciplinary academic and policy dialogues for all parties involved - be they graduate students, international organisations or the wider public.
Diego holds a BA in International Relations from University College Maastricht and an MA in International Relations (cum laude) with an emphasis on History of IR from Leiden University.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is professor of International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs. He graduated with an LL.M. degree at Leiden University in 1974. He worked for the ministry of foreign affairs from 1976 to 1986. For the first two years, he was stationed at the Dutch embassy in Ghana. After that, he worked at the Dutch delegation at NATO headquarters in Brussels until 1980. He became the 11th NATO Secretary General in 2004, and held this post until August 2009.On 1 September 2009 De Hoop Scheffer was appointed to the Pieter Kooijmans Chair for Peace, Law and Security at Leiden University. De Hoop Scheffer focuses on issues in the area of peace, law and security and also lectures in the field of international politics and the practice of diplomacy.
Carla Schouwenaars is an anthropologist with a passion for the subject of gender, peace, and security. After seven years as an army officer, with several deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Afghanistan, she decided to follow her heart and find a way to put more emphasis on the roles of local populations in conflict affected areas. A degree in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology provided her with the methodological and theoretical knowledge to study these roles. One of her current activities is an appointment as Gender Consultant in the Netherlands Civil Military Interaction Command. As such, she is involved in the implementation of Defence Action Plan 1325.
Ambassador Marriët Schuurman was appointed the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security in October 2014. She is the high-level focal point on all aspects of NATO’s contributions to the Women, Peace and Security agenda, with the aim to facilitate coordination and consistency in NATO’s policies and activities and to take forward the implementation of the NATO/EAPC Policy and Action Plan on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and related Resolutions.
Ambassador Schuurman is a career diplomat having served the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 17 years. Prior to her nomination as Special Representative, Ambassador Schuurman was the representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia[1]. Other duties include postings in Sudan, Zambia and Moscow, and strategic policy development regarding Kosovo and the African Great Lakes region.
Ambassador Schuurman holds a doctorate for Public Service honoris causa from the University of Maryland University College. She has held several board positions including the Presidency of the Works Council of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Council of the University of Amsterdam.
[1] Turkey recognizes the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.
Jamie Shea is NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. He has been working with NATO since 1980. His former positions included Director of Policy Planning in the Private Office of the Secretary General, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, Public Diplomacy Division, Director of Information and Press, Spokesman of NATO and Deputy Director of Information and Press, Deputy Head and Senior Planning Officer at the Policy Planning and Multilateral Affairs Section of the Political Directorate as well as Assistant to the Secretary General of NATO for Special Projects.
Dr Shea is involved with several prominent academic institutions and acts amongst others as professor of the Collège d’Europe, Bruges, Visiting Lecturer in the Practice of Diplomacy, University of Sussex, Associate Professor of International Relations at the American University, Washington DC, where he also holds the position of Director of the Brussels Overseas Study Programme, and lectures at the Brussels School of International Studies at the University of Kent. He also is a regular lecturer and conference speaker on NATO and European security affairs and on public diplomacy and political communication and lobbying. He holds a DPhil in Modern History from Oxford University (Lincoln College), 1981.
Malkit Shoshan is the founder of the Amsterdam-based architectural think tankFAST: Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory. Her work explores the relationship between architecture, planning, and human rights. She is the author of the award-winning book Atlas of Conflict: Israel-Palestine (Uitgeverij 010, 2010) and the co-author of Village: One Land Two Systems and Platform Paradise (Damiani Editore, 2014).
Shoshan studied architecture at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and the IUAV – The University of Venice. She is a Ph.D. fellow at the Delft University of Technology. She on the editorial board of Footprint, Delft Architecture Theory Journal, and the co-editor of its upcoming issue Spaces of Conflict.
She was the curator of the Dutch pavilion for the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, titled BLUE: Architecture of UN peacekeeping missions. Currently, she is a lecturer at Harvard GSD and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Public Knowledge (NYU).
In 2015, she was a finalist for the Harvard GSD’s Wheelwright Prize and a Visiting Critic at the School of Architecture at Syracuse University.
Presently, her projects include Design for Legacy and Warfare and Welfare. These projects examine the impact of UN peace(keeping) missions on cities and communities and aim at identifying challenges and opportunities to improve the livelihood of communities in conflict. The projects consist of collaborative research and design processes with experts in the fields of design, anthropology, economy, landscape, architecture, as well as with NGOs, the Dutch Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs and with UN agencies.
Shoshan work has been published in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, NRC, Haaretz, Volume, Surface, Frame, Metropolis, and exhibited at places such as the UN Headquarters in NYC (2016), Venice Architecture Biennale (2002, 2008, 2016), Lisbon Triennial (2013,2016), Experimenta (2011), The New Institute (2014), The Istanbul Design Biennale (2014). The Israel Digital Art Center in Hulon (2012), and The Netherlands Architecture Institute (2007).
Debra Solomon is an Amsterdam-based artist and researcher, founder of Urbaniahoeve Social Design Lab for Urban Agriculture. Urbaniahoeve (which translates to ‘the city as our farm’) has developed food-system infrastructure at several public space locations in the Hague and Amsterdam, transforming the existing landscape architecture, whilst prioritizing eco-system health, and implementing in situ topsoil production. As an expert in food system and ecosystem infrastructure, Solomon contributed to BLUE, the Venice Architecture Biennial Dutch pavilion curated by Malkit Shoshan. Solomon co-curated the Edible City (Dutch Architecture Institute), the Netherlands’ first exhibition on food and the built environment in 2007, and was food domain expert of the Designs of the Times (DOTT 07) Urban Farming Project, in Newcastle (UK).
Stephan De Spiegeleire is senior scientist at HCSS. He has Master’s degrees from the Graduate Institute in Geneva and Columbia University in New York, as well as a C.Phil. degree in Political Science from UCLA. He worked for the RAND Corporation for nearly ten years, interrupted by stints at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik and the WEU’s Institute for Security Studies. Mr. De Spiegeleire started out as a Soviet specialist, but has since branched out into several fields of international security and defense policy. His current work at HCSS focuses on strategic defense management, security resilience, network-centrism, capabilities-based planning, and the transformation of defense planning. He is particularly active in HCSS’s security foresight efforts to inform national and European security policy planning in the broader sense. He also teaches at Webster University in Leiden. Stephan keeps a personal blog, where he records his reflections on his fields of expertise. Please visit: gettingdefenseright.blogspot.com/
Renilde Steeghs is the Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation, a position that she combines with her work as head of the International Cultural Policy Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ms Steeghs joined the Foreign Service in 1988. During her diplomatic career, her postings abroad included Zagreb, Moscow and Brussels (2007-2010). At the Ministry headquarters in The Hague, she served as head of the UN funds and programmes division (2003-2007) and advisor for economic diplomacy (2010-2012).
Prior to joining the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the ICC as Deputy Prosecutor in March 2013, Mr. Stewart worked as General Counsel in the Crown Law Office within the Ministry of the Attorney General, in Toronto. Before this, he served as Senior Trial Attorney in the OTP at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR); as Chief of Prosecutions in the OTP at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY); and as Senior Appeals Counsel and then Chief of the Appeals and Legal Advisory Division in the OTP at the ICTR. Since 1985, Mr. Stewart has served in the Crown Law Office – Criminal, where his practice expanded to include appeals before the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada. On leaves of absence from his office, he worked at the UN international criminal tribunals.
Tim Sweijs is a Senior Strategist. He has degrees in War Studies (MA, merit, King’s College), International Relations (MSc, cum laude, University of Amsterdam) and Philosophy (BA, cum laude, University of Amsterdam). In 2005, he was one of 25 students to be awarded a Talent Program scholarship from the Dutch Government.
Mr. Sweijs is the initiator, creator, and author of numerous studies, methodologies, and tools for research projects in horizon scanning, conflict analysis, international and national security risk assessment, and capability development. He has led multicenter research projects for both private and public sector organizations – including the European Commission and various European governments. Mr. Sweijs spearheads the HCSS StratMon program, which offers strategic assessments of medium to long-term risks in the global security environment to the Strategic Monitor of the Dutch Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Security and Justice. He is the architect of the Drivers-of-Vulnerability Monitor, a web-based interactive mapping platform of global state vulnerability to intrastate conflict. Tim has lectured at civilian universities and military academies around the world.
In his very limited spare time, Tim is presently working on a PhD thesis about the use and utility of ultimata in coercive diplomacy in the period 1920-2010. Prior to HCSS, he was a researcher at TNO Defence, Safety & Security in The Hague and a member of the research staff of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels.
Born in Istanbul, Dr Ekim Tan graduated as an architect from the Middle East Technical University in 1999, winning the Archiprix Award. She received her second degree in urbanism from the Technical University Delft in 2005.
Ekim has long been fascinated by both Istanbul and the Netherlands, watching as the political and spatial landscape in both areas change dramatically, in unexpected ways.
In 2010, Ekim founded Play the City, an Amsterdam and Istanbul-based city design and research network. A collaboration between urban professionals and activists forming teams for ongoing projects, Play the City integrates city gaming, digital public polls, interactive learning, co-design and social networks with traditional architecture and urbanism, in a bid to create more open, dynamic city spaces.
Dr Steve Tatham is Director of SCL Defence. He holds a Ph.D in International Relations from the School of Social Science, University of Southampton and an M.Phil from St. John’s College, University of Cambridge. In both he researched the use of targeted behavioural influence campaigns in future military operations. He has authored two books: Losing Arab Hearts and Minds: The Coalition, Al-Jazeera and Muslim Public Opinion and, with General Andrew Mackay, ‘Behavioural Conflict: Why Understanding People and Their Motivations Will Prove Decisive in Future Conflict’. He has had over twenty other papers and monographs published including, controversially, “The Effectiveness of US Military Information Operations in Afghanistan 2001-2010: Why RAND missed the point, challenging the 2012 findings of the RAND Corporation into the failure of US IO in Afghanistan; S. Governmental Information Operations and Strategic Communications: A Discredited Tool or User Failure? Implications for Future Conflict published by the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute and Instability, Profitability, and Behavioural Change in Complex Environments, a paper examining the use of behavioural research in the international extractive industries. He was the author of the first ever military doctrine on Strategic Communication - StratCom : A Primer.
During his military career Tatham commanded 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group between July 2010 and January 2013. In 2009 he was appointed as Military Liaison Officer to the Cabinet Office’s Strategic Horizons Unit for duties on the rewrite of the National Security Strategy. For the three years prior to that he was Director of Advanced Communications and Influence research at the UK Defence Academy. He has operational experience accrued from service in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, the Northern Gulf and East Africa. He has worked in over 40 countries including the Middle East, central Asian, Australasia, Africa and the Far East.
After obtaining a degree in International Relations, Adrien Trocmé gained extensive project management experience working in Bolivia, Madagascar and the Netherlands.
Since joining RNW Media in 2014, Adrien has been responsible for the development of safe on- and offline spaces for Burundian and Congolese bloggers; despite both countries’ politically polarized contexts.
In his presentation Adrien will discuss the role, impact and influence that social networks can have on youth living in countries with limited freedom of expression.
Alexander Verbeek is an Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Alexander has been working as a diplomat for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1992, where his last position was Strategic Policy Advisor on Global Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Since 2014 Alexander is a World Fellow at Yale University. This year he started as a Visiting Fellow at Uppsala University for the Department of Peace and Conflict Research. He founded the Planetary Security Initiative (PSI) and organised the first international PSI conference in the Peace Palace in The Hague. Alexander is a public speaker on international issues related to climate, water, food, energy and resources. He also lectures at universities and is often asked to chair international meetings. He is in the board of advisors of several international environmental initiatives. More than 120.000 people follow his tweets on environment and politics on his twitter account: @alex_verbeek
Pieter Voeten began his military career in 1984 as a platoon commander within the NL Army Signal Corps. As the Sr. Project Manager Airfields within the NL1CMI Battalion Voeten completed in 2016 the Handbook Landing Zone Survey, Construction & Sustainment / To encompass development of TLZs and the use of existing airfields for shorter or longer missions. After his initial tour of duty, Voeten started to work in 1986 in the commercial area of marketing communications companies. In 1997 he was the founder of the DECC Internet Company, working for clients such as Red Cross, the Dutch National Tsunami Relief Campaign and Amnesty International). After completing his ATPL Flight Training, he became type-rated on the Airbus A320-family and the Dash8. In 1985 he sold parts of DECC and flew for several years for Denim Air and Amsterdam Airlines. In 2010, Voeten became responsible for the strategy and sales of the defense account for Verebus Engineering (part of the TÜV NORD GROUP). In that capacity, he was a member of the HELIPLATFORM/NIDV and the Dutch Underwater Knowledge Center (D.U.K.C./NIDV). Voeten was involved in major conservation and new building projects for the Royal NL Navy and Land Army. As a result Voeten oversees a structural corporation between the Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding (UAE) and Verebus Engineering on ILS Programs for the UAE Navy. Through his contribution as initiator and program manager for the Amsterdam Aviation Days Voeten has built a huge network within the international civil and military aviation community. In December 2016 the 10th Jubilee Edition of this renowned event will be celebrated. In 2012 Voeten founded EASP Air MARSUR/ISR. EASP Air focuses on Maritime Patrol and ISR ‘as a service’ in the European, Asian and African Maritime Security markets. In 2013 EASP AIR made her first appearance on the DSEi Exhibition in London. In 2016 EASP AIR was awarded with 2 Frame Work Contracts for Maritime Surveillance projects for the UK Border Force and FRONTEX. In 2016 Voeten became co-Chair of the ASD EU Maritime Security Task Force in Bruxelles.
Ruben Walker is the commercial director and co-founder of African Clean Energy (ACE). Based out of Amsterdam, it’s his job to develop new markets for the company and its flagship product, the ACE 1 Solar Biomass Cookstove. ACE currently has subsidiaries in Lesotho, Uganda and Cambodia. The ACE 1 eliminates smoke and burns biomass highly efficiently, while providing households with electricity, which has significant implications for health, environment, and socio-economics in developing countries. Ruben’s passion is pioneering innovation in this sector; both through product development, and smart distribution methods. African Clean Energy have vertically intergrated the distribution of the ACE 1 by offering mobile payment enabled credit terms to low-income households. Ruben has a degree in environmental engineering from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Frank (MBA) began his career in 1996 as an SAP consultant within Capgemini. His passion with technology brought him into early experiments with sensor technology, Frank was one of the driving forces behind the RFID experience center, which Capgemini set-up at the Vanderlande premesis in collaboration with NXP, SAP, Vanderlande and Intel.
From 2007, Frank managed one of the SAP practices in the Netherlands, and later took the responsibility for the entire Capgemini SAP business in the Netherlands, thereby als joining Capgemini’s global SAP leadership team. At this time, Frank also became board member of the Dutch SAP User Association (VNSG), the third largerst SAP user group in the world, a position he still holds today.
In 2012, Frank took over the BIM practice in the Netherlands, consisting of the Data Management, Business Intelligence and Online business of Capgemini. Thereby also joined the global BIM leadership team. In January 2015, Frank has been appointed as CTO for Capgemini Application Services for Continental Europa.
Rob de Wijk is the founder and non-Executive Director of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS). He studied Contemporary History and International Relations at Groningen, and wrote his PhD dissertation on NATO’s ‘Flexibility in Response’ strategy at the Political Science Department of Leiden University. Prof. De Wijk started his career in 1977 as a freelance journalist and later became lecturer in International Relations at Leiden University’s Political Science Department. He also worked at the Dutch Ministry of Defence, where he was instrumental in the restructuring of the Dutch armed forces in the early 1990s. Other positions he has held include Director of the Clingendael Security and Conflict Programme and Professor in International Relations at the Royal Netherlands Military Academy. Currently, alongside his role at HCSS, he is also Professor of International Relations at Leiden University, chairman of the National Security Think Tank (Denktank Nationale Veiligheid) and columnist for the national daily Trouw.
Pui-Hang Wong is a PhD Fellow at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and UNU-MERIT. His research interests include civil war settlement, political violence, and development. His PhD research surrounds the use of development assistance in counterinsurgency, peacekeeping, and statebuilding strategies in a post-conflict setting.
He holds master’s degrees in economics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Essex (UK) and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Monash University (Australia). Before joining the School of Governance, he worked at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and interned at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Pui-Hang Wong is a PhD Fellow at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and UNU-MERIT. His research interests include civil war settlement, political violence, and development. His PhD research surrounds the use of development assistance in counterinsurgency, peacekeeping, and statebuilding strategies in a post-conflict setting.
He holds master’s degrees in economics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Essex (UK) and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Monash University (Australia). Before joining the School of Governance, he worked at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and interned at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Philip R. Zimmermann is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy, an email encryption software package. Originally designed as a human rights tool, PGP was published for free on the Internet in 1991. This made Zimmermann the target of a three-year criminal investigation, because the government held that US export restrictions for cryptographic software were violated when PGP spread worldwide. Despite the lack of funding, the lack of any paid staff, the lack of a company to stand behind it, and despite government persecution, PGP nonetheless became the most widely used email encryption software in the world. After the government dropped its case in early 1996, Zimmermann founded PGP Inc. That company was acquired by Network Associates Inc (NAI) in 1997. In 2002 PGP was acquired from NAI by a new company called PGP Corporation, where Zimmermann served as special advisor and consultant until its acquisition by Symantec in 2010. Since 2004, his focus has been on secure telephony for the Internet, developing the ZRTP protocol and creating products that use it, including Silent Phone and Zfone. Zimmermann is Co-founder of Silent Circle, a provider of secure communications services, and is a partner at Mjolnir Ventures, a European venture fund specializing in cybersecurity.
Before founding PGP Inc, Zimmermann was a software engineer with more than 20 years of experience, specializing in cryptography and data security, data communications, and real-time embedded systems. His interest in the political side of cryptography grew out of his background in military policy issues.
Zimmermann has received numerous technical and humanitarian awards for his pioneering work in cryptography. In 2015 he received the US Privacy Champion Award from the Electronic Privacy Information Center. In 2014 he was inducted into the Cyber Security Hall of Fame, and Foreign Policy Magazine named him one of the Leading Global Thinkers of 2014. In 2012 the Internet Society inducted him into the Internet Hall of Fame. In 2008 PC World named him one of the Top 50 Tech Visionaries of the last 50 years. In 2006 eWeek ranked PGP 9th in the 25 Most Influential Products introduced since the invention of the PC in 1981. In 2003 he was included on the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum Wall of Fame, and in 2001 he was inducted into the CRN Industry Hall of Fame. In 2000 InfoWorld named him one of the Top 10 Innovators in E-business. In 1999 he received the Louis Brandeis Award from Privacy International, in 1998 a Lifetime Achievement Award from Secure Computing Magazine, and in 1996 the Norbert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for promoting the responsible use of technology. He also received the 1995 Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, the 1995 Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In 1995 Newsweek named Zimmermann one of the “Net 50”, the 50 most influential people on the Internet.
Zimmermann teaches crypto at Delft University of Technology’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, in the Netherlands. He received an Honorary Doctorate (Docteur Honoris Causa) from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 2016. He received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Florida Atlantic University in 1978. He is a member of the International Association of Cryptologic Research, and the League for Programming Freedom. He has served as a Fellow at the Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. He served on the Roundtable on Scientific Communication and National Security, a collaborative project of The National Research Council and The Center for Strategic and International Studies. He also served on the Board of Directors for Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and currently serves on the Advisory Boards for Santa Clara University’s Computer Engineering Department, Hush Communications, and AllClearID.
Patricia Zorko is the Deputy National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism as well as Director Cyber Security.Previously, she worked as quartermaster of the police, followed by chief of the National Unit of the National Police. She has also been head of the Dutch National Crime Squad. In the various positions she held, she continuously contributed to improving security both in the Netherlands and in an international context.
Especially in recent years, she has explored the challenges associated with cyber security and violent jihadism. As Deputy Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism and Director Cyber Security, Patricia is, in fact, responsible for these very issues among other things.
Nicolien Zuijdgeest is an Arabist who works in training and facilitation:‘ I enjoy connecting people and building bridges’. In the past years I mentored Libyan women’s organizations specialized in supporting female victims of violence. Focus on organization development, teambuilding and professional development (Psychosocial support & Trauma Releasing Exercises). It is inspiring to work with women on Peace, Security and (International) law.
Nicolien is an expert associated with Het Grote Midden Oosten Platform. More info at: www.nicolien.com.
Since the influx of newcomers to Europe, I am engaged in two new initiatives:
- Participatory workshops for refugees and host communities to make their environment as inclusive and safe as possible (Germany);
- A training program to stimulate more gender sensitivity between new comers and natives to discuss sensitive topics. (Netherlands).
Nikki de Zwaan has a background in Cultural Anthropology (MSc.) and Conflict Studies and human rights (MA.). She has professional working experience in different countries (e.g. Burundi, DRC, Afghanistan and South Sudan etc.) and she worked for organisations such as PAX, CARE and currently Cordaid. Her expertise areas are the link between development, peace and security, gender/peace/conflict and security and justice sector development. She currently works as policy advisor security &justice for Cordaid.