Program

UEF flags in front of a building

​NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) G6206, Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme 

Resilience as a deterrence strategy: Towards a comprehensive security panorama 

​Joensuu, Finland, October 1-3, 2024 

​Unless specified otherwise, all sessions will take place in room AU100, Aurora, University of Eastern Finland 

We reserve the right to change this programme!

NATO's logo and funding statement

Day 1 | Tue Oct 1 

​10:30-12:00 Pre-event (in Finnish)

Inhimillinen turvallisuus ilmasto- ja ympäristökriisissä [Human security in the climate and environmental crisis]

11:00- Registration

12:00-13:00 light lunch (for speakers)

13:00-14:00 Opening 

  • Prof. Jussi P. Laine, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland 
  • ​Prof. Jukka Mönkkönen, Rector, University of Eastern Finland 
  • ​Mr.  Ettore Marchesoni, Advisor and Programme Manager, Science for Peace and Security Programme, Innovation, Hybrid & Cyber Division, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Greetings from the border
    Colonel Matti Pitkäniitty, Commander of the North Karelia Border Guard District 

14:00-15:15 Keynotes

  • “Ritual deterrence: NATO and its eastern flank” 
    Prof. Maria Mälksoo, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 
  • Eurasia or ‘Greater Eurasia’?  Russia’s shifting geo-strategic imaginaries for NATO 
    Prof. Mark Bassin, Södertörn University, Sweden 

15:15-15:30 Agenda setting icebreaker: Interactive opinion poll  

15:30-16:00 Coffee break 

16:00-17:30 Interactive Roundtable 1: Towards a new European security landscape

Moderator: Prof. Jussi P. Laine, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland

Statements:

  • Lessons from failed conjectures of Russian politics in the 2020s
    Prof. Bo Petersson, Department of Global Political Studies Malmö University, Sweden
  • Strengthening Resilience against Russia’s Hybrid Threats and Warfare
    Dr. Rainer-Elk Anders, Bath Spa University, UK
  • Predicting the unpredictability of a thwarted great power: Russia’s behaviour in its immediate neighbourhood
    Prof. Jeremy Smith, University of Eastern Finland:
  • Fear factor? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the changed attitudes towards NATO in Finland
    Dr. Veera Laine, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
  • Security and democracy in the context of non-military/hybrid warfare and the new security landscape
    Dr. Ingrid Vik, UTSYN – Centre for Security and Resilience, Norway

Open discussion

Interactive poll

17:30-17:40 Day 1 Wrap-up

19:00 Welcome Reception (by invitation only)

Restaurant Filipof

Day 2 | Wed Oct 2 

09:00-9:50 Keynote: “Russia and hybrid warfare: Beyond the label”

Dr. Hanna Smith, Senior Strategic Advisor to the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperationin Europe (OSCE) 

​Open discussion

9:50-10:00 Refreshment break

10:00-11:30 Panel 1: Looming security developments 

​Chair: Prof. Bo Petersson, Department of Global Political Studies Malmö University, Sweden 

  • ​New security challenges in the post-Soviet space: reading between the lines 
    Prof. Akihiro Iwashita, the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University, Japan 
  • From conflict to cooperation: what can be learned from Russia’s relationship with China 
    Dr. Paul Richardson, University of Birmingham, UK 
  • ​Central Asia’s role in securing NATO’s eastern border in East-West trafficking networks 
    Dr. Paul Fryer, University of Eastern Finland  
  • Divisions, passages and thresholds in European borderlands: Anthropological perspectives on new risks and ambivalences 
    Dr. Carolin Leutloff-Grandits, European University Viadrina, Germany 
  • The Politics of embodied encounters in asylum seeking 
    Dr. Gintarė Kudžmaitė, Tampere University, Finland 

11:30-12:00 Brainstorming 

Russia has been defined as “the most significant and direct” threat to the alliance. What are the practical implications of this? What does this mean to the neighbouring states? 

Opening statement: Senior Analyst Maarten ten Wolde, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats

​ Interactive poll and open discussion 

12:00-12:20 Introduction to Kelluu Airships, COO Jiri Jormakka

12:20-13:30 Lunch and Kelluu‘s airship flyover (weather permitting)

Lunch coupons for speakers (restaurant Aura); self-paid for non-speaking participants

13:30-15:00 Panel 2:  Way forward for NATO: challenges ahead 

​Chair: Dr. Rainer-Elk Anders, Bath Spa University, UK 

  • ​NATO’s collective identity following Russian invasion of Ukraine 
    Dr. Johanna Vuorelma, Centre for European Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland 
  • War and society in a hyper-connected world: challenges for NATO 
    Dr. Matthew Ford, Department of War Studies and Military History, Swedish Defense University 
  • The role of NATO in the trust building with its neighbours
    Dr. Katarzyna Stokłosa, Centre for Border Region Studies, University of Southern Denmark
  • ​Hungary’s seesaw policy in NATO – with what effects? 
    Dr. Péter Balogh, HUN-REN CERS IRS and Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary 
  • Poland becoming a military superpower: Implications for NATO 
    Dr. Monika Sus, Hertie School, Berlin, Germany and Team Europe Direct Poland

15:00-15:30 Coffee break     

15:30-16:20 (Reverse) Brainstorming

What challenges must NATO overcome to stay apace and ahead with the security developments? What role does border(studies) have in building security and resilience?     

> Result validation: interactive virtual poll (all attendees) 

16:20-16:30 Technical break

16:30-17:30 Extra session:  Security Cluster in the City of Joensuu

Moderator: Seppo Tossavainen, Head of Economic and International Affairs, City of Joensuu

  • Kelluu Airships to collect data for better security: Jiri Jormakka, Kelluu Oy, COO.
  • Photonics enables effective border surveillance: Timo Vuorenpää, Peak PC Oy, CEO
  • What is the new in the New Defence: Jarmo Puputti, Digital Defence Ecosystem in Finland, CEO

19:00- Dinner reception

hosted by the City of Joensuu 

Joensuu Art Museum (all registered guests) 

​Day 3 | Thu Oct 3 

09:00-10:30 Panel 3: Security. Cooperation. Governance: Neighbours’ views 

Chair: Dr. Joni Virkkunen, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland 

  • Russia and the Transnistrian separatism in the Republic of Moldova: geopolitical, military and energetic implications 
    Dr. Octavian Ţicu, Researcher Coordinator, Institute of History, Moldova State University / Associate Professor, University of Bucharest 
  • Shrinking borderlands under surveillance: Technological and communal aspects to border security 
    Prof. Eiki Berg, University of Tartu, Estonia 
  • ​The war did (not) change that: Continuity and change in Russia’s foreign policy after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine 
    Dr. Damian Strycharz, Cracow University of Economics, Poland 
  • ​Building Effective Deterrence: Examples from the Norway-Russia border 
    Dr. Bjarge Schwenke Fors, The Barents Institute, The Arctic University of Norway 
  • Russia-Ukraine war and evolving security dilemma of Central and Eastern Europe 
    Dr. Tomasz Stępniewski, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; Team Europe Direct and Institute of Central Europe in Lublin

10:30-10:45 Refreshment break 

10:45-12:15 Interactive brainstorming roundtable

How has Russia increased its hybrid threat activities in the neighbouring/NATO countries because of its war in Ukraine? What role for border security in building resilience towards hostile hybrid threats emanating from Russia? 

Facilitators: Prof. Élisabet Vallet, Royal Military College Saint-Jean & University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada and Prof. Jussi P. Laine, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland 

Statements by  

  • ​​Managing Irregular Cross-Border Movements: The Morocco-Spain Approach 
    Prof. Said Saddiki, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco 
  • Borderlands and the potential long-term consequences of the war in Ukraine: The case of Hungary 
    Dr. Sara Svensson, Halmstad University, Sweden 
  • Ukraine at War: Resilience and Normative Agency 
    Dr. Yuliia Kurnyshova, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Patterns in Nascent, Ascendant and Mature Border Security: Regional comparisons 
    Prof. Todd Hataley, Sir Sanford Fleming College, Canada  
  • Framing Entangled Borders in the Baltic States 
    MSSc Sandra Charlotta Hagelin, University of Tartu, Estonia 

​​> Open discussion 

> Interactive poll 

12:15-13:20 Lunch 

Lunch coupons for speakers; self-paid for non-speaking participants

13:20-15:00 Panel: Human aspects of security: building local resilience 

Chair: Prof. Jopi Nyman, University of Eastern Finland 

  • The role of refugee women in enhancing awareness of security developments and building resilience 
    Prof. Nurcan Özgür Baklacioğlu, Department of Political Sciences and International Relations, Istanbul University, Turkey  
  • Return policies from a security perspective: Ukrainian war migrants and Nordic host societies 
    Dr. Olga Filippova, University of Eastern Finland / V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine 
    Dr. Oleksandra Deineko, NIBR, OsloMet University / V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine
  • Finland’s Russian-speaking immigrants’ securitized transnational connections and feelings of insecurity 
    Prof. Olga Davydova-Minguet, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland
  • ​A Safe Haven? Ukraine’s western border regions since the full-scale Russian invasion 
    Dr. Tatiana Zhurzhenko, ZOiS – Centre for East European and International Studies, Berlin, Germany 
  • The Polish-Ukrainian border prior and after February 2022: Ups and downs in a socio-cultural perspective”
    Dr. Marcin Dębicki, University of Wrocław, Poland
  • Developing a life satisfaction index in Slovak-Ukrainian borderlands
    Dr. Martin Lačný, University of Prešov, Slovakia

15:00-15:30 Coffee break 

15:30-16:15 Roundtable: New Security considerations – how to prepare for the unpredictable?

Facilitator:  ​Prof. Jussi P. Laine, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland 

Panelists:

  • ​Prof. Élisabet Vallet, Royal Military College Saint-Jean & University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada 
  • ​Prof. Maria Mälksoo, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 
  • ​Dr. Joni Virkkunen, University of Eastern Finland 
  • ​Prof. Bo Petersson, Department of Global Political Studies Malmö University, Sweden 

> Questions to the panellist:  what could alliance do better to build effective deterrence? How to enhance early warning with a view to preventing crises? 

> Interactive exercise  

> Prioritization poll 

16:15-16:30 Conclusions and next steps

Prioritization of the recommendations 

16:30 Apéritif 

Restaurant Aura