This episode focuses on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)and the energy prospects in the Eastern Mediterranean. It engages in a conversation on international law, international arbitration and negotiation, conflict mitigation, and some of the legal disputes presented in pipeline projects in the region.

Maria Athanasiou holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of South Wales and a Master’s degree in International Commercial Law from Cardiff University. She is also pursuing her Doctorate in the field on the Law of the Sea at the University of Nicosia. Being a member of the Cyprus Bar Association, Maria is the Founder of Athanasiou & Associates LLC, based in Cyprus. Moreover, Maria is a co-author of the book “The Future of the Maritime Industry” and a Lecturer in Law at the European University and the Cyprus Maritime Academy. She is involved in various exhibitions concerning Energy security in the framework of international law.

This episode engages with women's role in CSDP Missions and Operations in the EU and beyond. What sort of deficits are there when it comes to gender mainstreaming? How should the EU approach its civilian and military components in line with the Women Peace and Security Agenda? What sort of advisors should we have behind the scenes and in the field? These questions, including many more, are all discussed in this episode.

Veronika Hornyák is a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Military Sciences of the University of Public Service - Ludovika. She is a Doctoral Fellow of the Doctoral School on Common Security and Defence Policy at the European Security and Defence College. She holds Master’s degrees in International Public Service Relations and International Security and Defence Policy from the National University of Public Service, and a postgraduate diploma in Sports Diplomacy from Széchenyi István University. Her area of expertise is European security and defence, and her PhD research focuses on gender mainstreaming in EU-led military missions. Alongside her doctoral studies, Veronika works as a consultant on capacity building projects in the fields of internationalization, education, and gender equality. Veronika is a prospective Fulbright scholar for AY2023/2024 and will pursue a non-degree program at American University in Washington D.C.

This episode looks at the Saudi-Iranian rivalry in the region of the Middle East, as well as the impact this rivalry brings upon conflict, with the example of the Yemeni civil war. This conversation also considers the ways through which the states in the Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean sub-regions engage with the Saudi-Iranian rivalry.

Alexandra Nikopoulou is a PhD Candidate at the University of Peloponnese, Greece. Her research focuses on proxy wars, regional security, the antagonism between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the role of great powers in the Middle Eastern sub-system. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International and European Studies from the University of Piraeus and an MA in Mediterranean Studies from the University of Peloponnese. Since 2017, she serves as an research associate at the Center for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies (CEMMIS).

This episode looks at questions pertaining to the public disclosure of intelligence. Why do states and agencies publicly disclose intelligence? How do they benefit from such practices? How is it done? And to what extent does society understand intelligence to begin with? Listen to our guest, Dr. Riemer, to find out more.

Dr. Ofek Riemer is an adjunct lecturer at the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the coordinator of the Israeli Forum for Intelligence Studies. He earned his PhD in October 2022 from the Hebrew University for his dissertation, titled, "States' Public Intelligence Disclosure in International Relations". He holds an M.A. in Diplomacy and Security and a B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies, both from Tel Aviv University. He has published in Contemporary Security Policy and has written commentaries for War on the Rocks and the Institute for National Security Studies.

Season 4 of The Conversation starts with Dr Andrew Hom elaborating on the concept of time in the spatial imaginary of International Relations. We discuss what constitutes time, the ontological questions behind it, who creates and uses time within international politics, and why it is useful for policymakers to acknowledge their use of time.

Dr Andrew Hom is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the School of Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the intersections of time, international relations, and just war theory. He has previously worked as a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow and as an Adjunct Lecturer at Vanderbilt University. Dr Hom has published in several journals, including International Studies Review and Security Dialogue, and has co-edited volumes on related research.

This episode features a conversation on civil society groups and their capacity of grassroots involvement in the policy-making and security processes, with examples derived from Poland and Ukraine.

Bohdana Kurylo is a PhD candidate at University College London, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies. She is a recipient of the Victor and Rita Swoboda Memorial Scholarship, the Overseas Research Scholarship and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies Excellence Scholarship. Her research interests include security theory, international political sociology, social movements, populism and Eastern Europe.

Contributing to Security Studies, Bohdana’s research investigates how civil society can become empowered as a security actor in the context of perceived emergency. It draws on a vernacular contextual approach in combination with semi-structured interviews and social media research to study the meanings of security, emergency and power that guide the action of local agents. On the one hand, her dissertation examines the discourses and practices of Ukrainian civil society groups against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian war (2014-). On the other, it explores the mobilisation of Polish civil society around the issue of reproductive rights in the lead-up to the 2021 near-total ban on abortion.

Alongside her PhD project, Bohdana has been conducting research on the populist politics of security, focusing on the discursive and aesthetic ways through which populists enact (in)security in various contexts.

UCL Profile: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/bohdana-kurylo

(Originally recorded 17th February - 1 week before the Russian invasion of Ukraine) This episode hosts a discussion on regional security, the role of the European Union, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and IR theories and concepts.

Neli Kirilova is a PhD candidate in International Relations and Security Studies at the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary and a PhD Fellow at the European Doctoral School on CSDP, at the European Security and Defence College (ESDC). Her PhD research explores the geopolitical competition in the Black Sea region between Russia, Turkey and the EU, and the incompatible concept of power as a reason for international conflicts and security crises. As a visiting researcher at the Brussels School of International Studies at the University of Kent from April to October 2020, she developed a theoretical framework on contemporary balance of power theory, something which she applies to the Black Sea region. She undertook her expert interviews during a diplomatic traineeship at the Permanent Representation of Bulgaria during the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU between Nov 2017 and July 2018.

Neli Kirilova holds an International Masters degree in Russian, Central and East European Studies (University of Glasgow, UK), an MA in Political Science (Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary), an MA in International Relations: International Public Administration and a BA in International Relations (University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria). She pursued international exchange studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and held visiting fellowships at the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy in Baku, and the Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. She successfully defended two MA theses: ‘The role of Russia within BSEC. Implications to regional diplomacy’ (2015) and ‘Energy diplomacy in the EU-Russia relations and the role of Bulgaria’ (2013).

This episode focuses on Artificial Intelligence in modern warfare and military automation. It also features a discussion on the ethical use of emerging technologies in conflict. Such discussion is much needed in order to understand our changing world, as well as the conditions that shape and repeat history itself.

Originally a historian and a sociologist, Maaike Verbruggen now studies the future of warfare. She is a Doctoral Researcher at the Center for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium). Her specialty is the intersection between emerging technologies, military innovation, and arms control, and she is currently finishing up her PhD on military innovation in Artificial Intelligence – and particularly the controversies behind it.

This episode takes a more technical twist. It looks at cyber autonomy, cyber capabilities, and critical infrastructure within the European Union and the private sector.

Iryna Leroy has more than 14 years of working experience in ICT and SaaS solutions at international ICT companies in Germany, the Czech Republic, the United States, Ukraine, and Russia. Iryna has relevant higher education and work experience qualifications in journalism, marketing (Public Relations, Investors Relations) and international economics. She has worked closely with ministries of health and education in Caucasus and Central Asian countries for 7 years, supporting the digital transformation processes for academic institutions. Mrs. Leroy is the author of the book “Building a reputation. Experience of non-governmental organizations”. She joined the European Security and Defence College as a PhD Fellow in 2020 and has served as a representative of the Doctoral Fellows at the ESDC. Iryna also helps businesses and government institutions with digital transformation processes, where ICT, SaaS and Cloud solutions are implemented and integrated. Currently, she is working as Head of Core Western Europe Department in one of the biggest French IT and R&D companies, responsible for the security of payments application development in BeNeLux and Western Europe. From 2021, Iryna also teaches Risk Management at the Université de Lorraine, France

This episode brings us to the more complex yet interesting dynamics within the European Union’s Defence Structure.

Andreas Theofilis is a PhD researcher at the University of Peloponnese. He is also a PhD CSDP fellow at the doctoral School of the European Security and Defence College. His research focuses on how the EU defence structure has been developed.

Moreover, Andreas Theofilis is an officer of the Hellenic Navy. He graduated from the Hellenic Navy's Petty Οfficers' Academy as an electrician in 1997. Afterwards, he served at warships until 2011, when he was placed at the Directorate of IT and Communications at the Hellenic Navy General Staff. In 2014, he started studying Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Peloponnese. He graduated in 2018 with distinction. In the same year, he was repositioned at the Plans and Policy Directorate at the Hellenic Navy General Staff, assuming staff officer duties at the Defence Planning department. His duties relate to National Defence Planning, the participation of the Hellenic Navy in the PESCO (the Permanent Structured Cooperation), and the management of a PESCO project led by the Hellenic Navy. Mr Theofilis holds a Master's Degree in "Global Risk and Analytics" and has earned "Honourable Mention " for academic excellence by the Chief of the Hellenic Navy twice.