Rob de Wijk is the founder of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and Professor of International Relations and Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. He studied Contemporary History and International Relations at Groningen University, 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 head of the Defense Concepts Department of the Dutch Ministry of Defense, head of the Security Studies at the Clingendael Institute, and Professor of International Relations at the Royal Netherlands Military Academy. 

Paul Sinning is the Executive Director of HCSS. After graduating from the Dutch police academy in 1985, he started his career in the police force in Amsterdam. As a police officer he was responsible for several criminal investigation units. He later studied management and organization (University of Tilburg, 1995) and became a management consultant (1997) and managing partner (2002) at Twynstra Gudde, a Dutch management and consultancy firm. As managing partner he was responsible for building and developing the Security Group, specialized in organizational, business and change management within the field of security. He focused mainly on strategy, organizational development and complex collaboration issues between organizations responsible for security. He later studied public management at the University of Tilburg (2005) and has written several books about security. He has been closely involved in The Hague Security Delta from the start.

Michel Rademaker is one of the co-founders of HCSS and the deputy Director. He has fifteen years of hands-on experience as an officer in The Royal Netherlands Army, where he held various military operational and staff posts and also served a term in former Yugoslavia. He has a masters degree obtained at the University of Tilburg. After leaving the armed forces, Mr. Rademaker went on to work at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) as a project and program manager and senior policy advisor on security topics for ten years. Eg. as NATO RTO project leader, he and his team developed serious gaming assessment methods.

At HCSS he is responsible for product and project development. He is particularly interested in setting up (inter)national multi-stakeholder projects, both with a combined qualitative as well as quantitative focus, on new and upcoming strategic security and geo-economic themes like cyber and raw materials etc. His fields of expertise include security strategy, policy, concepts and doctrines, technology assessments, geopolitical and economic security implications of climate change, raw materials and energy supply and serious gaming techniques. He implemented with his teams big data analytics in projects building interactive monitors and dashboards. He organizes Cyber Security Summerschools with international partners like NATO and Europol.  

Michel Rademaker was an initiator of The Hague Security Delta and recently supported the establishment of the Hyderabad Security Cluster in India. He is on the board of the Institute for Accountability in the Digital Age and the Executive Committee of the International Military Council on Climate and Security.

Michel has written several book chapters, and numerous research reports and articles. He frequently acts as moderator in workshops, as a trainer, as guest lecturer at various universities and speaker at conferences, and as a commentator in news media.

Frank Bekkers (1960) holds a Master in Mathematics from the University of Amsterdam. He has spent most of his career as a security and defence strategy analyst, often in combination with managerial responsibilities. His field of expertise include all aspects of the comprehensive security domain. He has substantial experience in innovation strategy and management, both hands-on and in terms of policy advice. In addition, he has done research and consultancy in other domains, such as industry policy and health care. His present position is programme director at HCSS. Mr Bekkers is one of the founding fathers.

Frank Bekkers is the author and co-author of over 50 reports and publications since 2010.

Dr. Tim Sweijs is the Director of Research at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. He is the initiator, creator and author of numerous studies, methodologies, and tools for horizon scanning, early warning, conflict analysis, national security risk assessment, and strategy and capability development. His main research interest concerns the changing character of contemporary conflict. Tim is a Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Defence Academy, and an Affiliate at the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also serves as an Adviser Technology, Conflict and National Interest to the UK Government’s Stabilisation Unit. He spearheads the HCSS StratMon program which offers strategic assessments of medium to long term risks in the global security environment to the Dutch Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs. Tim has lectured at universities and military academies around the world. Previously, he was a researcher at TNO Defence and Security in The Hague and at the research staff of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels. He studied in London, Amsterdam and Hong Kong and holds degrees in War Studies (PhD, MA), International Relations (Msc), and Philosophy (BA). Tim is married and has three children.

Having served a fourth term as a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the leading conservative liberal VVD political party, Han ten Broeke held post as the senior member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and acted as Chair of the Armed Services Committee. Furthermore, he led the Dutch delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Prior to which, he was the VVD’s ranking member on Defence and EU affairs.

Before embarking on a career in politics and following his employment as Director of Public Affairs at KPN telecommunications, he ventured to a subsidiary of KPN in Brussels. Ten Broeke then became owner and director of Quinten Consulting BVBA (Ltd). Involved in rebranding KPN-orange to BASE mobile phone operator, he also carried profit and loss responsibility for a small segment of its market. Having previously set up his own company served as a prerequisite enabling the following move at Director’s level to Weber Shandwick in Brussels. This global company with offices in 81 countries promoting a collaborative culture suited Ten Broeke’s novel, divergent style of creative thinking and his entrepreneurial approach. Rather than public relations, his focus was directed towards public affairs where extra emphasis was afforded by the Brussels office. During this period he gained significant experience at international level.

A staunch advocate of public ideals, he believes in the power of ever-present potential as an
indispensible instrument towards a better, more sustainable future. Clear, unambiguous use of language in both his native Dutch and fluent English has furnished him with persuasive, emotive deliveries before both the media and audiences of varying cultures, and from all walks of life. Han ten Broeke holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Stephan De Spiegeleire is Principal 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

Laura Birkman is a Senior Strategic Analyst at HCSS where she leads a range of projects in the field of security and defense. Before joining HCSS, she worked as Principal and Senior Consultant at Ecorys, an international research and consulting firm, where she helped establish the Security and Justice unit and focused on topics related to civil protection, crisis management, and innovation. Among other things, Laura led advisory and support services related to the building of a “Community of Users in Secure, Safe and Resilient Societies”, a European Commission initiative focused on reducing fragmentation and increasing impact of EU funded security research.

Prior to Ecorys, Laura worked for the Dutch government as key expert on international biodiversity policy (UN) and agricultural trade. She also served as Agricultural Attaché to the Netherlands Embassy in Moscow (2006-2009). Laura holds an MPA (Harvard Kennedy School, 2012), an Executive Master International European Relations and Management (University of Amsterdam, ASIR, 2001), and a Joint M.A. (Honours) International Relations, Philosophy (University of St. Andrews, 2000). She is a former NAF Fulbright Fellow and HSP Huygens Scholar (Harvard).

Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Bolder started his military career after graduating from the Royal Military Academy in Breda. As a meteorological officer he headed the meteorological departments at Deelen and Volkel Airbase. After graduating at Wageningen University as World Class Meteorologist he served with the staff of the 1st German/Netherlands Corps in Münster, Germany.

After graduating Staff College in 2001 he was stationed at policy departments at the Airstaff and Defencestaff. He joined the Presidency Taskforce for the Netherlands EU Presidency in 2004 with responsibilities for the Headline Goal Task Force and EU Military Committee. Subsequently he was the European Defence Agency - Netherlands Capabilities PoC for the Defence Staff, The Hague. From 2008 to 2010 he was CHOD representative in the interdepartmental Future Policy Survey team (Verkenningen).

After a six month deployment in 2012 in the West Bank he was stationed at the Airstaff in Breda, responsible for the IMC-policy, Triple-helix policy and Space policy of the RNLAF.

In 2014 he joined the 6 month Senior Course of NATO Defence College, Rome. After graduating he returned to the Airstaff. In 2017 another 6-month deployment to the West Bank followed, again working for and developing the leadercourse program of the Palestinian Security Services. After returning he was stationed again at the Airstaff in the Strategy and Advice branch. He joined the HCSS in January 2019. 

Bianca Torossian is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS. Her studies at The University of Sydney, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Leiden University (The Hague), earned her a Bachelor degree in political science, political economy and sociology, and a Master degree in political science and international organization. For her Master Thesis, Bianca analyzed how the institutional legitimacy of the European Union was impacted by Brexit, and hopes later to reopen this line of research and explore how the nationalistic tendencies of states effect the social legitimacy of multilateral institutions.

At HCSS, Bianca primarily focusses on security and diplomacy. A specific area of interest is the field of technology and AI in defense contexts, which ties into a HCSS research project that critically analyzes the challenges and opportunities posed by robotic and autonomous systems in the military. She contributes to a range projects commissioned by the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence.

Louk Faesen is Strategic Analyst at the Cyber Policy and Resilience Program of the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. He mainly focuses on international peace and security in cyberspace, norms of responsible state and non-state behavior, and confidence-building measures (CBMs) in cyberspace. Louk functions as the Project Manager of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC), a multi-stakeholder initiative launched at the 2017 Munich Security Conference by the Foreign minister of the Netherlands that brings together leading experts from all major cyber powers and regions to help develop norm and policy initiatives related to international peace and security in cyberspace.

Louk worked previously as a Policy Officer at the Task Force International Cyber Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, where he assisted in the substantive preparations of the Global Conference on CyberSpace 2015 (GCCS) and the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) in The Hague and subsequent projects related to international peace and security, such as the application of international law to cyberspace, confidence building mechanisms (CBMs), and norms of responsible state behavior.

Louk holds a Master’s degree in Law and Politics of International Security (LLM) from the VU University of Amsterdam. During his studies, he conducted research on the Chinese claims in the South China Sea, and worked at a Dutch maritime security company that provides security solutions in the High Risk Area of the Indian Ocean.

Dr. Ninoslav Malekovic is the Chief Data Scientist at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. Providing hands-on experience and leadership to the Centre’s Data Lab, Ninoslav brings formal and data sciences to bear on the quantification of the Centre’s research. His key responsibility includes formulating and implementing the Centre’s conflict, security, and political risk research in data science and engineering terms.

Before joining HCSS, Ninoslav spearheaded Quantifiable, a data research hub, specializing in the privacy, economics, and science of data. Under his lead, Quantifiable provided clients in the biotechnology, IoT, metals, and telecommunications industries with top-notch solutions to decision problems. Prior to Quantifiable, as a researcher at The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Ninoslav applied his knowledge of statistics, computing, microeconomics, and decision theory to information systems research. His scientific publications subsequently appeared in Decision Support Systems and Electronic Markets. Early in his career, Ninoslav held several positions in the Croatian Foreign Service, including in the analytics and information department, where he helped digitally transform the country’s diplomatic and consular network. Academically, Ninoslav draws on information systems (PhD, ETH Zurich, 2016), advanced quantitative research methods (MPA, Harvard University, 2011), and cognitive and decision sciences (BSc, MSc, University of Zagreb, 2000).

Hugo van Manen holds a Master’s degree (MSc) in International Public Management and Policy from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Leiden University. Prior to joining HCSS, Hugo worked as a consultant at Ecorys, where he was involved in several EU-commissioned projects within the field of civil protection, including the International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation, DRIVER+, and DG ECHO’s peer review program.

Paul Verhagen is a data scientist at HCSS, and holds a Master’s degree in Environment and Resource Management from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree at Amsterdam University College majoring in theoretical physics and philosophy. Paul has attended exchange programs in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Prior to joining HCSS, Paul interned at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he worked on global cyber capacity.

At HCSS, Paul focuses primarily on translating data analysis into concrete recommendations for clients. Paul has extensive expertise in quantitative research methods such as text mining, social network analysis and geo-political risk models. On the content side he primarily works on China related topics such as 5G and AI, as well as on trade related issues including the China-US trade war and Iranian sanctions. Finally, Paul is actively involved in US politics, he is co-author on a forthcoming book on the American presidency and a member of the executive committee of Democrats Abroad, the Netherlands.

Dorith Kool is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS, where she contributes to projects commissioned by the Dutch Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs. Her primary focus is on fragile states and the role of the security sector in stabilising conflicts. Her work also includes research on the nexus between water, peace and security in Iraq. In her previous work she looked at the politicisation of peace settlements in Syria and the political dimensions of the humanitarian sector. Her main research interests include geopolitics and the security implications of climate change, hybrid warfare, security resilience and migration. She also has experience working as an Arabic translator.

Dorith holds a MSc in Middle Eastern Studies from Leiden University and is currently completing a MSc in Military Strategic Studies at the Netherlands Defence Academy.