NetSec Policy Workshop

Intensifying great power competition is reshaping the strategic environment in which alliances operate. NATO faces renewed questions about burden-sharing, forward posture, and the credibility of extended deterrence. The European Union is developing more autonomous defence capabilities, and middle powers across regions are recalibrating their alliance choices under the pressure of competition among the United States, China, and Russia.

This workshop convenes scholars and policy practitioners to examine how alliance politics is evolving under these conditions, and what the policy implications are for European security. It is organised by NetSec Working Group 2 on the Transfer of Knowledge.

• Extended deterrence and reassurance in an era of renewed great power rivalry
• Burden-sharing and defence spending within NATO and the European Union
• The role of nuclear weapons in contemporary alliance politics
• Middle-power alignment strategies
• Technology, industrial policy, and the future of allied cooperation
• Alliance credibility, coercive statecraft, and crisis management

Accommodation in Ankara and all meals during the workshop are provided by Bilkent University and the Royal Danish Defence College.

Travel costs (airfare, ground transport, train) are reimbursed through COST Action NetSec up to a maximum of €700 per participant. Where travel exceeds €700, the balance is met by the participant.

Download the application form and complete it together with a short CV of at most two pages. In the form you propose a presentation title, explain its relevance to the NetSec Working Group 2 agenda, set out your motivation for taking part, and give an estimate of your transportation costs.

Send the completed form and CV to eliza.gheorghe@bilkent.edu.tr and John.helferich@hertford.ox.ac.uk.

Application deadline: 15 August 2026. Notification of acceptance: 22 August 2026.