Disunity in diversity? Europe and grand strategy in a time of global upheaval

• Dr. Benedetta Berti is Head of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary General at NATO. She is also Associate Researcher at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Visiting Professor at the College of Europe and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. An Eisenhower Global Fellow and a TED Senior Fellow, in the past decade Benedetta has held research and teaching positions at West Point, The Institute for National Security Studies and Tel Aviv University, among others. Dr. Berti is the author of four books, including "Armed Political Organizations. From Conflict to Integration" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Her work and research have appeared, among others, in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, the National Interest, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times; as well as in Civil Wars, Democratization, Government & Opposition, Mediterranean Politics, the Middle East Journal, Parameters, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence. She holds a BA in Oriental Studies from the University of Bologna, and a MA and PhD in International Relations from The Fletcher School (Tufts University).

• Sylvie Goulard is President of the Deutsch Französisches Institut (Ludwigburg, Germany) and Vice President of the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University (Milano, Italy). In June 2023, she was designated co-chair (with Dame Amelia Fawcett) of a Franco-British initiative aiming to create nature related financial instruments to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. From January 2018 to December 2022, she was deputy governor of the Banque de France / Eurosystem with a portfolio comprising international issues, research, public financial education and financial stability issues, including those related to climate and the monitoring of the secretariat of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) that coordinates the work of around 120 Central Banks and supervisors committed to tackle climate related financial risks and encourage sustainable development. Within the NGFS, Mrs Goulard co-chaired the Task Force on nature-related risks. After the presidential election in 2017, Mrs Goulard was Minister of Defense in the first Edouard Philippe Government. From 2009 to 2017, she served as a member of the European Parliament (ALDE group / Econ committee). She was previously a political advisor to Romano Prodi during his time as President of the European Commission and Chair of the French European Movement.

• Dr. Thu Nguyen is Deputy Director of the Jacques Delors Centre at the Hertie School. She leads the think tank’s work on institutional questions of EU policy. In her own work, she mainly focusses on EU institutional reform, rule of law, democracy and economic governance. She is also the host of the German-speaking podcast “EU to go – der Podcast für Europapolitik”. Before joining the Centre, Thu was Assistant Professor of EU and comparative constitutional law at Maastricht University. She holds a PhD in EU constitutional law from Maastricht University and a LL.M. from the College of Europe in Bruges. Thu has given evidence on the subject of EU institutional reform and EU economic governance in various committee hearings in the German Bundestag and European Parliament. In January 2023, she was appointed by the German government to the Franco-German expert group on EU institutional reforms.

• Dr. Alina Polyakova is President and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) as well as the Donald Marron Senior Fellow at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Dr. Polyakova is a recognized expert on transatlantic relations, European security including Russia and Ukraine, tech policy, and populism. She is the author of the book, The Dark Side of European Integration, which examines the rise of far-right political movements in Europe, as well as dozens of major policy reports and articles in outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and The Atlantic, and others. She is a frequent commentator in major media outlets, such as Fox News, CNN, and BBC. Dr. Polyakova is an experienced leader with previous roles as the Founding Director for Global Democracy and Emerging Technology at the Brookings Institution, Director of Research for Europe and Eurasia at the Atlantic Council, among others. She holds a Ph.D. and MA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Economics and Sociology from Emory University.

• Dr. Nathalie Tocci is Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, part-time professor at the School of Transnational Governance (European University Institute), Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen and independent non-executive director of Acea. She has been Special Advisor to EU High Representatives Federica Mogherini and Josep Borrell. In that capacity, she wrote the European Global Strategy and worked on its implementation. She is a Europe’s Futures fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, IWM). She was the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and, prior to joining Acea, she was an independent board member first of Edison and then of Eni. She has held research positions at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels, the Transatlantic Academy, Washington, the European University Institute, Florence, and has taught at the College of Europe, Bruges. Her research interests include European integration and European foreign policy, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, transatlantic relations, multilateralism, conflict resolution, energy, climate and defence.

Chair

• Marina Henke is Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School and Director of the Centre for International Security. She researches and publishes on grand strategy, nuclear security and European security and defence policy. Before joining the Hertie School, she was an Associate Professor (with tenure) at Northwestern University, specialising in international relations, as well as at Princeton University where she was a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She holds a PhD in Politics and Public Policy from Princeton University, a Double Master of Science in Development Studies and International Political Economy from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Politics and Latin American Studies from Sciences Po Paris. Her book “Constructing Allied Cooperation” published with Cornell University Press in 2019 won the prestigious 2020 Lepgold Best Book Award, the ISA 2020 Diplomacy section Best Book Award, and the APSA 2020 International Collaboration section Best Book Award.