Instructorstors
Workshop instructors combine the best of the policy and the academia world, with high-calibre experts specialising in open and closed source analysis, geopolitics, terrorism, radicalization, hybrid warfare, disinformation, civil protection and other sub-fields of the broader disciplines of security and intelligence studies. The relatively small number of attendees will enable participants to discuss in depth with present academics and practitioners, offering robust networking opportunities.
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Confirmed instructors (in alphabetical order)
Dr. Mersilia Anastasiadou
Neapolis University Pafos
Dr Mersilia Anastasiadou is a Lecturer in Diplomacy and International Relations at the Department of History, Politics and International Studies, Neapolis University Pafos (NUP), where she is also appointed as the Assistant Coordinator of the BSc in International Relations and Security, the MSc in European Politics and Governance and the MSc in International Relations, Strategy and Security. Mersilia holds a PhD in International Relations from Panteion University in Greece. Prior to her doctoral studies, she studied Classical Philology at the University of Athens and the University of Sorbonne (Paris IV) and holds postgraduate degrees in Diplomacy and International Law from Lancaster University and in Cultural Management (specialisation: Cultural Diplomacy) from Panteion University. She has been a scholar of prestigious institutions, such as the Tirymos Foundation, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the European Academy Research, Italy, the University of Innsbruck, the College of Europe, University of Hamburg, the International Institute for Human Rights, Rene Cassin, France and of the Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights, Greece, from which she was awarded the 1st National Prize. Mersilia’s research interests and experience lie on diplomacy and federalism as means of addressing protracted conflicts and security challenges.
Dr. Rubén Arcos
University Rey Juan Carlos, Spain
Rubén Arcos is a Senior Lecturer in communication sciences at University Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in Madrid, Spain. He serves as program co-chair of the Intelligence Studies Section at the International Studies Association. He is a cofounder and codirector of IntelHub—International Online Intelligence Hub, a joint initiative between the American Public University System (APUS), the University of Leicester in the UK, and URJC. Dr. Arcos is currently a researcher and core theme leader (information and strategic communications) in the EU-HYBNET project—Empowering a Pan-European Network to Counter Hybrid Threats (a fiveyear- long project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme). He is a member of the expert pool on information of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. His main research interests are intelligence and intelligence analysis, strategic communication, foreign information manipulation and interference, and hybrid threats. He is coeditor of The Academic-Practitioner Divide in Intelligence Studies (forthcoming, Rowman and Littlefield) He is also the coeditor of The Art of Intelligence: Simulations, Exercises, and Games (2 volumes). He is a member of the editorial advisory board of the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. He has served as senior consultant for European Commission’s funded projects related with the security sector in West Africa and Georgia.
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Mr. Chrysilios Chrysiliou
Cyprus Center for Land, Open-seas, and Port Security (CYCLOPS)
Chrysilios Chrysiliou is an experienced crisis manager with over 30 years of service in the field. He holds a Master’s degree in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management from Leicester University and has attended numerous seminars and trainings in the wider area of crisis and disaster management in Cyprus and abroad. Chrysilios is a trained European Union Civil Protection Expert and has participated in several EU Civil Protection courses as a trainer. In his capacity as the Director of Larnaca Civil Defence for the past twenty years, he has planned, organized and executed many local and international training sessions and exercises. In the same capacity, he was deployed in several contingencies with the aim of countering the negative effects of real disasters both in Cyprus and abroad. Chrysilios is now assuming his new duties as the Director of the CYCLOPS training centre, a specialized training centre aiming at providing advanced technical assistance to trainees from Cyprus, partner countries from the wider Middle East, Europe and elsewhere, related to, safety and security, border security, customs and export controls, port and maritime security and cybersecurity.
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Ms. Yvonni Efstathiou
European Union External Action Service (EEAS)
Yvonni Efstathiou currently works at the European External Action Service, serving as Political Officer at the EU Delegation to the United Arab Emirates. She has previously worked at the EU Delegation to Madagascar and as a Defense Analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Research (IISS) in London. Her portfolio, at the time, focused on naval military capabilities and security in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the MENA region. Yvonni specializes in the European defense cooperation package (PESCO, EDF, CARD), EU-NATO relations and the Turkish Defense Industry. She regularly comments on defence and military issues for international media outlets such as the BBC and Defense News. She has studied History and Political Science (BA) and Security Studies (MSc) at the University College London (UCL).
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Dr. Panayiotis Hadjipavlis
EU Military Staff Strategic Analysis Section
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Panayiotis Hadjipavlis is a defence and aviation specialist with 30 years of experience in defence strategic analysis, airspace geopolitics and flight safety issues. Panayiotis graduated as a jet pilot from the Hellenic Air Force Academy, where he also earned a BSc in Aviation Science. He also holds a BA in European Studies (European University, Cyprus), an MBA (University of Sunderland, UK), an MSc in Aviation Safety Management (City University, UK), a Master II in Religions, Cultures and Politics in Modern and Contemporary Europe (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, France) and a Professional Master in Superior Military Studies. In July 2021, he earned a doctoral degree in Geopolitics of the Airspace from Newcastle University, UK. Panayiotis’ research interests include geopolitics of the airspace, techno-geopolitics, geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East and Sahel regions, issues of state sovereignty and European Defence Cooperation. Lieutenant Colonel (AF) Panayiotis Hadjipavlis has served in several critical posts at the Cyprus Ministry of Defence. Since 2019, he has served as a strategic analyst for the Sahel region in Africa at the EU Military Staff/ European External Action Service while since September 2021 he has been also posted as the Coordinator of the Africa Section of the EUMS Strategic Analysis Section.
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Dr. Nicholas Ioannides
University of Cyprus
Nicholas A. Ioannides holds a PhD in Public International Law from the University of Bristol. During the academic year 2017-2018 he was a Nippon Fellow at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. He received his LLB from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) in 2010 and earned an LLM in Public International Law from the University of Bristol in 2012. He was also called to the bar in Cyprus in 2011. In 2019, he was awarded the ‘Georgios Tenekides’ Prize by the Hellenic Society of International Law and International Relations for the best PhD thesis for the academic years 2017-2019. In 2020, he was awarded the ‘Daniel Vignes’ Prize by the International Association of the Law of the Sea for his article on hydrocarbon activities in undelimited maritime areas. His monograph entitled ‘Maritime Claims and Boundary Delimitation: Tensions and Trends in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea’ has been published by Routledge. He is a member of the European Society of International Law; the International Law Association (Greek Branch); the International Association of the Law of the Sea; the Hellenic Society of International Law and International Relations; the Cyprus Bar Association; and the Famagusta Bar Association.
Dr. Vassilis (Bill) Kappis
BUCSIS, University of Buckingham
Bill Kappis is a Deputy Director and Lecturer at the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies in the University of Buckingham, as well as a visiting Professor at the War Studies University in Poland and a visiting instructor at the Hellenic School of National Defence (SETHA). He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in International Security from the University of Sydney and Master’s degrees in Strategic Studies and European Integration from the Australian National University and the London School of Economics, respectively. Before joining the University of Buckingham, Bill undertook post-doc research at the University of Tel-Aviv. His research interests lie in the strategic and psychological aspects of security crises and foreign policy decision-making, as well as the geopolitical dynamics of the Eastern Mediterranean with an emphasis on great power competition in the region. He has considerable experience designing bespoke training programs for academic and policy audiences in the UK and overseas. Bill, has, finally presented his work in numerous conferences and workshops and has been awarded by the University of Sydney for his excellent teaching practices.
Ms. Evgenia Karatari
European Union External Action Service (EUEAS)
Evgenia KARATARI is an EU official with 30 years of service in EU Institutions and bodies, 14 of which in the area of external relations, open source intelligence and crisis management. She currently holds the post of Head of Sector Crisis Monitoring Communication in the EU Situation Room (European External Action Service (EEAS), leading a team providing early warning and situational awareness on crisis areas and contributing to the functioning of the EEAS Crisis Response Mechanism. She is visiting lecturer at the University of Buckingham (UK), War Studies University (Poland), Vesalius College (VUB) (Belgium), College of Europe (Belgium), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Hellas) and the European Security and Defence College οn crisis management, crisis communication, media monitoring and analysis, open source intelligence and EU’s external action. She has a diversified academic background ranging from European affairs, geopolitics and history to business and human resources management. She is of Greek nationality and speaks English, French, Spanish and Italian.
Professor Stavros Katsios
GeoLab Institute, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece
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Stavros Katsios is Professor of International Economic Relations and International Economic Crime at the Ionian University, Corfu, Greece and Director of the Laboratory for Geocultural Analyses / the Geolab Institute. He is a lawyer, member of the Thessaloniki Bar since 1990 and of the German Bar Association since 1996, practicing in the fields of economic crime, company law and real estate. His research is focused on International Economic Law and Economic Crime (e.g. corruption, money laundering). He has studied law at the Cologne “Albertus Magnus” University , and Saarland University, Germany, at Georgetown University, Washington D.C., USA and at the Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece (Ph.D. degree in Commercial and International Economic Law). He has been appointed by a decision of Minister of Finance as the head of the WGII of the Greek National Risk Assessment Expert (NRA) Committee on Money Laundering and Corruption (August 2017) and is a frequent invited speaker at the International Symposium of Economic Crime held annually in September at Jesus College, Cambridge University, UK (since 2009). He has lectured on Economic Crimes/Money Laundering at the Greek Police Academy and the School of National Security. He is author of four books and numerous scientific article in journals and the director of the publications’ series “Globalization and Governance” and “Geolab Library” of Papazisis Publications, Athens, Greece.
Professor Ben Mor
University of Haifa
Ben D. Mor is head of the Graduate Program in Negotiation Management and Decision-Making at the University of Haifa, Israel, where he was also head of the International School. He holds a PhD in International Relations from New York University, specializing in IR theory and formal modeling. Dr. Mor has written extensively about crisis decision-making and bargaining, enduring international rivalries, Israeli foreign and security policy, and public diplomacy. His work has appeared in Journal of Peace Research, Rationality and Society, Foreign Policy Analysis, Review of International Studies, European Journal of Political Research, and others. He has held several visiting positions, most recently at Peking University and Tsinghua Universities in Beijing. Dr. Mor was a member of the strategic advisory team to the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and has taught for many years in the academic program of Israel’s National Defense College. He is currently engaged (with Steven J. Brams) in researching cooperation in iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma, and is writing a book on the construction and management of credibility in public diplomacy.
Mr. Alexander Oberkersch
Hensoldt Analytics
Alexander Oberkersch is an Alumnus of the Buckingham University Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies. His education and professional career enabled him to attain international experience and work placements in Istanbul, Johannesburg, Brussels and Washington DC. He currently acts as a Business Development Manager at HENSOLDT Analytics GmbH based in Vienna, where he has worked since 2018. HENSOLDT Analytics is a leading provider of Open-Source-Intelligence Solutions based on Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing for the defence and security sector. HENSOLDT Analytics is part of the HENSOLDT Group- a leading supplier for platform independent sensor solutions deployed across the domains air, sea, land, and security for armed and security forces worldwide.
Professor Julian Richards
BUCSIS, University of Buckingham
Julian Richards is a Professor of Politics, Associate Dean at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS) at the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom. Julian gained a PhD in political violence in Pakistan, at Cambridge University, in 1993. He then spent nearly 20 years working in intelligence and security for the British Government, returning to academic life as a Research Fellow with Brunel University’s Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies in 2006. He is the author of four books and numerous articles and book chapters on various aspects of intelligence, global security, cyber-threats and issues concerning terrorism and counter-terrorism strategy. Julian is a regular media commentator on security and intelligence issues for national and international television and radio, including the BBC, Sky News and Al Jazeera. His current research interests include a range of issues concerning global security, extremism and radicalization, and the development of techniques in intelligence analysis. Julian has, finally, acted as a periodic advisor to the UK’s parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee on various aspects relating to intelligence policy and strategy.
Dr. Petros Savvides
BUCSIS, University of Buckingham & Neapolis University Pafos
Dr Petros Savvides is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS) and a Visiting Lecturer at Neapolis University Pafos. He received a PhD in Modern History at the University of Birmingham and an MPhil at the University of Glasgow. He is currently the co-editor of the scholarly electronic series European Security and Intelligence Notes (ESIN) published by BUCSIS.He has been a lecturer at the Department of Politics and Governance at the University of Nicosia, a research fellow at the Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs (CCEIA), the founding editor of the annual journal Eastern Mediterranean Geopolitical Review (EMGR), and the founding editor of the monthly electronic series Eastern Mediterranean Policy Notes (EMPN) at the same University. His research interests focus on conflict analysis, contemporary security, the defence, and the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean. He is the author of the monograph The Islamization of Occupied Cyprus (Nicosia: Armatolos, 2019) and the editor of the collective volume “Security and Defence of Small States: The Case of Cyprus” (Nicosia: Armatolos, 2021), both published in Greek.
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