Security in a changing world: hybrid threats, societal resilience and disruptive thinking
Speakers
Despina Afentouli
Program Manager for Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain as well as for Partnerships, Cooperative Security and Open Door policies, at NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division
Despina-Ino Afentouli currently serves as Program Manager for Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain as well as for Partnerships, Cooperative Security and Open Door policies, at NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division. Her main tasks include the elaboration and implementation of the organization’s communication strategy towards the areas under her responsibility (information activities/campaigns, high level meetings, supervision of Information Centres and Information Corners, coaching in implementing reforms, reaching out to civil society and following public opinion trends).
Before joining NATO, from 1986 to 2001, D.I. Afentouli had extensive experience as a foreign policy and European affairs journalist and columnist.
D.I Afentouli studied Law at Athens University (BA) and earned an MA degree in Political Communication at the University of Paris-I (Sorbonne). She was a member of the European Association of Journalists and served as Secretary General of the European Network of Women Journalists (1994-98).
She is the author of four books (“A journey in Greek foreign policy”, Athens, Potamos, 2005/“EMU: The day after”, Athens, Dromeas, 1999/ “The Europe we want”, Athens, I. Sideris, 1997/“May ’68: Twenty years after”, Athens, Odysseas, 1988) and of numerous articles on international relations and foreign policy.
Alena Vieira
Visiting Researcher of Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Instituto Estudos Estratégicos e Internacionais (Lisbon) and Catholic University of Leuven.
Alena Vieira holds PhD in Political Science from the University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. She is Integrated Research of the CICP/UMinho. She was Visiting Researcher da Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Instituto Estudos Estratégicos e Internacionais (Lisbon), e Universidade Católica de Leuven. She has been granted scholarship and research grants by the following foundations: Chair Inbev-Baillet Latour; Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung; Haniel-Stiftung; Compania di San Paulo, Riksbanken Jubileumsfond e Volkswagen-Stiftung, as well as Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia. Her book “Russland, Belarus und die EU-Osterweiterung” was published by Ibidem-Verlag (2009), and she has also publishes as articles in several journals, including Europe-Asia Studies, Post-Soviet Affairs, Revista Brasileira da Política Internacional, Contexto Internacional, EIOP, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, International Spectator, e European Politics and Societies.
Carlos Branco
Christian Kaunert
Chair of Policing and Security, as well as Director of
the International Centre for Policing and Security at the University of South Wales
Prof. Dr. Christian Kaunert is Chair of Policing and Security, as well as Director of
the International Centre for Policing and Security at the University of South Wales.
He is also the Leader of the Cognate Research Group on Policing and Security at
the University of South Wales. Previously, he served as an Academic Director and
Professor at the Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, a
Professor of International Politics, Head of Discipline in Politics, and the Director of
the European Institute for Security and Justice, a Jean Monnet Centre for
Excellence, at the University of Dundee. He was previously Senior Lecturer at the
University of Dundee, Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow at the European
University Institute Florence, and Senior Lecturer in EU Politics & International
Relations, University of Salford. He has been awarded with a prestigious Jean
Monnet Chair in EU Justice and Home Affairs Policy and EU Counter_Terrorism
(2012, 2013, 2017 and 2018), and received a prestigious Marie Curie Career
Integration Grant (from 2012_2016), the latter held at the University of Dundee. He
is currently the Editor of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies,
International Conflict and Cooperation and the Edward Elgar Book Series ‘European
Security and Justice Critiques’. Prof. Kaunert holds a PhD in International Politics &
an MSc in European Politics from the University of Wales Aberystwyth, a BA (Hons)
European Business from Dublin City University, ESB Reutlingen and a BA (Hons)
Open University.
Evanthia Balla
University Professor at the University of Évora and a Scientific Researcher at Observare – Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa and at the Instituto Jurídico Portucalense – Universidade Portucalense (Porto)
Evanthia Balla has a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the Catholic University of Lisbon (Portugal), a Master’s in European Studies from the University of Reading (UK) and a Master’s in International Politics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). She received her first degree in Political Science and Pubic Administrations from the University of Athens (Greece). Currently, she is a University Professor at the University of Évora and a Scientific Researcher at Observare – Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa and at the Instituto Jurídico Portucalense – Universidade Portucalense (Porto) and a regular columnist at the Portuguese newspaper Jornal Económico (JE). She has been publishing thoroughly at national and international journals. She has been a business consultant and a researcher on EU legislation and EU business opportunities in Brussels, Lisbon and Athens. She speaks Greek, Portuguese, English and French.
Vlad Vernygora
Lecturer in International Relations at Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia and DSocSc Candidate at the University of Lapland (Finland)
Vlad Vernygora is a Lecturer in International Relations at Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and DSocSc Candidate at the University of Lapland (Finland).
He is an alumnus of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Ukraine) and the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). His academic interests include contemporary empires, strategic communication, Europe’s interactions with the Asia_Pacific, and Belt and Road Initiative. Vlad holds Tallinn University of Technology’s Teaching Award of 2015 and a short_listed nomination for the country_ wide University Teaching Award in 2016. From October 2014 until April 2017, Vlad had been managing the operational side of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme Project ‘NATO Global Perceptions – Views from the Asia_ Pacific Region’.
Sofia Macedo
Currently finishing her master’s degree in Strategy, at the University of Lisbon, where she is specializing in Intelligence Studies. She just concluded a one-year professional traineeship for the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Portuguese Delegation to NATO, in Brussels, as Junior Defence Counsellor. In January she will go back to Belgium, followed by the United States, to conduct internships at both NATO Strategic Commands Headquarters.
Rui Garrido
Rui Garrido is a Ph.D candidate in African Studies at the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL). Has a master in Human Rights from Law School of the University of Minho. His research topics are human rights law, in particular, the discrimination based on sexual orientation in African contexts, as well as international humanitarian law and the protection of journalists and vulnerable groups in armed conflicts. He has several publications in specialized journals focusing on his research topics.
Cátia de Carvalho
Cátia de Carvalho has a Master in Psychology of Deviant Behaviour and Justice, from the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Porto. Her thesis focused on the daily life in a refugee camp and the psychosocial vulnerabilities of refugees. To conduct this research she received a permission from UNHCR and Portuguese Embassy in Democratic Republic of Congo to study Molé refugee camp.
Since finishing her Master, Cátia has been involved in several activities at the University and at a local NGO where she collaborated in developing applications for national and international funding. In a collaboration with Catholic University of Porto she assisted a research project aiming at assessing the integration and welcoming of refugees in Portugal. Besides, she has also been involved in organising several workshops and dissemination events, namely with policy-makers, as well as participating in international conferences.
Currently, she is a PhD candidate at Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of University of Porto and a visiting scholar at Institute of Criminology of University of Cambridge. Her PhD project, which received funding from the National Foundation for Science and Technology, focuses on the pathways of the Portuguese jihadists and the contextual protective factors of the Portuguese society that explain the absence of violent radicalisation. She has presented her studies in national and international conferences, namely at the European Parliament.
As an experienced qualitative researcher, she is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Symposium on Qualitative Evidence for policy makers, a member of Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group, and a member of COST Action International Ethnic and Migrant Minorities’ Survey Data Network. She is also involved in peer reviewing systematic reviews for Campbell Collaboration and in teaching classes on the topics of refugees, terrorism and Peace Psychology, Violence and Human Rights.
