Entries by Stephanie Govaerts

Interviews by Dr. Davis Ellison with Dr. Victoria Vdovychenko, Dr. Christian Fjäder and Dr. Simona R. Soare on shaping the future of digital defence

On the 18th of July 2025, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) hosted its symposium “From Cloud to Community: Shaping the Future of Digital Defence” in The Hague. HCSS invited experts to exchange views on shaping the future of digital defence, creating a platform for lively debate and cross-sector collaboration. Just before HCSS hosted this event, HCSS Strategic Analyst Dr. Davis Ellison briefly spoke three of the speakers. Watch the interviews here.

Event Recap | From Cloud to Community: Shaping the future of digital defence

HCSS is proud to have hosted its symposium “From Cloud to Community: Shaping the Future of Digital Defence” on 18 June in The Hague. This second edition built on the success of our first event in Brussels on March 10, but pushed the conversation further — moving beyond NATO’s digital capabilities to tackle the big question: How do we build a future of digital defence that works for both soldiers on the battlefield and citizens at home? Read the recap to get some insights and takeaways from the event.

GC REAIM Symposium: Next Steps for Responsible Practice

HCSS is pleased to invite you to join us for the GC REAIM Symposium: Next Steps for Responsible Practice, on 26 June, 2025 from 10.00 – 16.30 at HCSS (Lange Voorhout 1, The Hague). This is the fifth and final Global Commission on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (GC REAIM) Symposium and the Secretariat is extremely proud to be hosting around the NATO Summit. Register via the Eventbrite link!

Guest Paper Series | NATO’s Digital Capabilities

This new HCSS Guest Paper Series explores key aspects of NATO’s digital capabilities and how the Alliance can prepare for the demands of a rapidly evolving digital battlespace. The four expert contributions address cloud computing, lessons from Ukraine’s battlefield innovations, gaps in NATO’s current C4ISR infrastructure, and China’s AI-enabled command capabilities. Building on these expert insights, a new HCSS Capstone paper by Hans Horan, Sofia Romansky, and Davis Ellison outlines a strategic blueprint to modernise NATO’s collective digital capabilities and C4ISR systems across Europe, ahead of the 2025 NATO Summit.

Three different internships are open for applications!

HCSS is looking for new interns for three different internship positions! We’re looking for two datalab interns (deadline 15 June), general interns (deadline 20 July) and a Water, Peace and Security (WPS) intern (deadline 20 July). Read to find out more!

Julie Ebrard on how she found HCSS and the three words she would use to describe her internship experience

Hi! My name is Julie and I come from France. I first arrived in the Netherlands four years ago to study International Relations and Organisations at Leiden University. I first found out about HCSS at a career event organised by Leiden University, where I had the opportunity to speak with the internship coordinators. What intrigued me was the broad and dynamic nature of the internship, the projects HCSS was involved in and wanting to bridge the theoretical dimension of my studies with the research and policy-making world.

From Cloud to Community: Shaping the Future of Digital Defence

In the run up to the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague and following our first Symposium on NATO’s digital capabilities in Brussels, this second Symposium will focus on the future of digital defence. On Wednesday, June 18th, HCSS has the pleasure to invite you our symposium at our office in the Hague, where world class experts will discuss military and civilian aspects of digital defences.

Sofia Romansky: Lessons from the EU on Confidence Building Measures around Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain

HCSS Strategic Analyst and GC REAIM project coordinator Sofia Romansky contributes to the ongoing discourse on emerging technologies and security with her newly published paper, ‘Lessons from the EU on Confidence Building Measures around Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain,’ as part of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium’s Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Paper series. Her paper explores how confidence-building measures (CBMs), informed by the European Union’s regulatory experience with the AI Act, can help break the current deadlock in global governance of military AI.

Elton Högklint on how his YouTube channel led him to HCSS, interdisciplinarity and finding out the core of his future work

Hi my name is Elton and I’m originally from a small town in Sweden but I lived abroad for most of my life. For my bachelor’s studies, I chose to do Sociology at the University of Amsterdam and a minor in Global Affairs at Leiden University, where I found out about the Advanced Master of Science in International Relations and Diplomacy which I am currently completing alongside my internship at HCSS. The minor is also where I found out about HCSS, as I took Professor Rob de Wijk’s course in Power Instruments!

Water, Peace and Security (WPS) Internship open for applications (start date July/August 2025)

HCSS is looking for a new Water, Peace and Security (WPS) intern to start in July/August 2025. Are you a student interested in climate security in the MENA region? The WPS internship is a dynamic and varied opportunity in research, project management, communication, design, networking, copy writing, and policy development. Deadline to apply is July 20th!