Dr. Kristian Åtland is a Senior Research Fellow with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), located at Kjeller, Norway. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Tromsø and an MA degree in Russian studies from the University of Oslo. In the period from 1994 to 2002, he was employed in the Norwegian Foreign Service and worked as a desk officer in the Foreign Ministry’s Russia and CIS division, as Second Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Kiev, and as Consul at the Norwegian Consulate General in San Francisco. In 2007–2008, he was a Fulbright visiting scholar at the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), University of California, Berkeley. Since 2002, he has worked as a defence researcher and published a number of articles and research reports on various Russia related topics, with a particular focus on security issues and crisis management in the European Arctic. His most recent publication is “North European Security after the Ukraine conflict”, published in Defense & Security Analysis, Vol. 32, No. 2 (2016).

Dr. Stefanie Babst has been a member of NATO’s International Staff since 1998. She is currently the Head of the Strategic Analysis Capability for the NATO Secretary General and for the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. In this capacity, she is responsible for preparing comprehensive assessments on potential upcoming crisis situations in geographical and functional areas of relevance and concern to NATO, as well as on their implications for the Alliance. Prior to joining SAC in 2012, she occupied various posts in NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division. She began her career in 1991 as Assistant Professor for International Security Policy at the Institute of Political Science/ Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany, moving on to become Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the Federal Armed Forces Command & General Staff College in Hamburg.

Rasmus Gjedssø Bertelsen is a Dane and grew up in Iceland, so he has a deep professional and personal commitment to the North Atlantic and the Arctic. He is Professor of Northern Studies and holds the Barents Chair in Politics at the University of Tromsø-the Arctic University of Norway. Rasmus believes in the Icelandic tradition of "að sigla" – "to sail" – to travel for education and experience, also expressed by the Chinese saying of "better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books". He studied or worked at the Universities of Copenhagen, Iceland, Lausanne, Geneva, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Sciences Po, Harvard, Tokyo Institute of Technology, United Nations University and Aalborg. His research addresses historical and current transnational knowledge relations: soft power of American and European universities in the Middle East and East Asia, universities channelling information, ideas, talent and resources between societies, transnational triple helix innovation, and the role of science diplomacy under power transition. As Barents Chair in Politics, Rasmus focuses on the Arctic after the end of the Cold War/bipolarity and in light of the globalisation/power transition/return of China. Science allows China to enter the Arctic in a less threatening way and for the Arctic powers to integrate China with greater confidence. Arctic science also keeps Arctic cooperation together when threatened by Russian-Western geopolitical competition in Ukraine. Rasmus also studies the international political economy of the interplay between human capital and natural resources in Arctic societies. Strong local formal human capital, often including brain circulation, is a necessary condition for comprehensive sustainable development. With colleagues, Rasmus has shown the importance of strong local human capital with transnational skills for Iceland and Faroe in order to benefit from marine resources, hydro and geothermal energy, and offshore oil and gas potentials.

Professor Dr. Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg holds the Chair of Public Law, especially Public International law, European Law and Foreign Constitutional Law at the Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. In the academic years 2003/2004 and 2012/2013 he was the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College. From October 2004 until October 2008, he was the Dean of the Law Faculty of the Europa- Universität. From October 2008 until November 2012, he was the Vice-President of that university. Previously, he served as Professor of Public International Law at the University of Augsburg. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Kaliningrad (Russia), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Santiago de Cuba (Cuba) and Nice (France). He was the rapporteur of the International Law Association Committee on Maritime Neutrality and was the Vice-President of the German Society of Military Law and the Law of War. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Council of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy. Since May 2012 he is the Vice-President of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War and since May 2013, he is a Senior Fellow of the Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia. Professor Heintschel von Heinegg was among a group of international lawyers and naval experts who produced the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea. In 2002, he published the German Navy’s Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations. Professor Heintschel von Heinegg has been a member of several groups of experts working on the current state and progressive development of international humanitarian law, including the Manual on Air and Missile Warfare (2010) and the Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare (2013). He is a widely-published author of articles and books on public international law, in particular international humanitarian law, European and German constitutional law.

Philipp Hermes is founding and managing partner of BHM Penlaw, a group of international lawyers specialised in maritime and marine affairs with offices in Hamburg, Berlin, Paris and Edinburgh. He has expertise in international maritime and marine finance, maritime insurances and ship construction matters. Since Philipp Hermes is interested in the global and regional correlation between the different maritime and marine stakeholders, one focus of his advising portfolio is Maritime Security which is relevant for all stakeholders in maritime and marine affairs. Philipp Hermes is advising the public sector and private maritime industries, e.g. banks, insurance companies, shipping companies, ship construction companies in Europe and elsewhere. Philipp Hermes is naval officer (reserve) and regularly contributes columns to World Economy.

Torben Ørting Jørgensen was born in 1959 in Frøslev just north of the Danish border to Germany. He signed up for the Naval Academy and was commissioned as First Lieutenant in 1983. From 1983 to 1992 he served in the Ocean Patrol Vessel Squadron; as commanding officer of the Training Yacht THYRA; as commanding officer of the ocean patrol cutter AGDLEK; as Frigates, Operations Officer; and as STANDING NAVAL FORCE ATLANTIC Staff Operations Officer. He completed several operational deployments during this period, amongst other 4 years’ service in Greenlandic waters. He has taken additional staff training in UK, Canada and in Germany as a proud member of ASTO. 33 (Verwendungslehrgang Generalstab-/Admiralsstabsdienst (Marine), Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr, Hamburg). Promotion to Commander came in 1993. From 1993 to 1997, he was staff Officer for the Ministry of Defence. In 1997, he returned as Executive Officer and the becoming Commanding Officer of frigate PETER TORDENSKIOLD until end 2001. His promotion to Commander Senior Grade came in 2001 and from 2001-2004 he served as Branch Head, Plans and Policy in Chief of Defence Staff. He was promoted to Captain in 2004 and served as Head of Division Plans and Policy. Promoted to Commodore in 2006, he served as Deputy Commander of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team in Iraq and in August, he became the Director of Management at Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. In July 2007, he was promoted to Rear Admiral and took the helm as Assistant Chief of Staff Capabilities at Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in August 2007. Following internal disagreement on reorganisation of SACT Staff, he was relieved from NATO service and returned to Denmark in 2009. From 2009, he has worked for the A.P. Moeller-Maersk family-owned Maersk Broker and presently heads the Global Specialised Tonnage Team and, among other things, is responsible for projects in the Arctic.

Clive Johnstone is the Commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command. He is NATO’s principal maritime adviser and has operational Command of NATO’s Standing Naval Forces. A graduate of Shrewsbury School, Durham University and Britannia Royal Naval College, Vice Admiral Johnstone has deployed to most points of the compass with the Royal Navy and has served as Navigator, Fighter Controller and Principal Warfare Officer in ships ranging from Minesweepers to Aircraft Carriers. He has been engaged in operations in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, the Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. He also served in HM Yacht BRITANNIA during an appointment that culminated in the handover of Hong Kong. At sea, he has commanded HMS IRON DUKE (a Type 23 Frigate) and HMS BULWARK (an amphibious assault ship and the Royal Navy’s Amphibious Flagship), undertaking operations in the Northern Gulf, the Horn of Africa and off Lebanon. He was awarded a CBE for an extended Gulf Deployment and the evacuation of British Nationals out of Beirut.Ashore, he has worked in procurement, resources and operational planning. In more senior positions he has had roles in personnel strategy and leadership of the Naval Staff (in London). In 2008, he was selected as Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup and subsequently General Sir David Richards. Promoted Rear Admiral in July 2011, Clive Johnstone served as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Training) and Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) until April 2013. He became Assistant Chief of Naval Staff in May 2013 prior to assuming Command of NATO Allied Maritime Command in October 2015. A defining theme in Flag rank has been the projection of a considered maritime voice in the National and NATO defence and security debate, linking across boundaries with partners of all forms, friends and allies.

Sarah K. Kirchberger is a China specialist with work experience in academia and industry. Her areas of expertise include China's political system, modern Chinese history and China's military modernization. In 1999, Kirchberger graduated with an M.A. degree in Sinology, Political Science and Archaeology from the University of Hamburg after having studied Chinese language at Taipei during 1997/98. Following postgraduate studies in Political Science at Trier University, she completed a PhD degree in Sinology in 2004. From 1994 until 2003, she was a scholar of the German National Academic Foundation. From 2007 until 2010, Kirchberger served as a naval analyst with shipbuilder Blohm + Voss, Hamburg, where she was charged with observing naval developments around the world, working in close cooperation with technical and military experts. After becoming an assistant professor of Sinology at the Asia-Africa-Institute (AAI) at the University of Hamburg in 2010, Kirchberger began focusing on China's naval development, and in 2015 published her book "Assessing China's Naval Power: Technological Innovation, Economic Constraints, and Strategic Implications" (Springer, Berlin & Heidelberg). This study analyses China's quest for naval power from a wide variety of analytic angles, and includes an in-depth analysis of China's current naval capability profile. Originally a specialist in Chinese domestic politics and comparative government, her first monograph was an analysis of informal rules in Chinese and Taiwanese politics (in German, 2004). Furthermore, she has published various book chapters and articles on topics including Chinas political system, CCP party history, Chinese domestic politics, Chinese foreign policy, and naval modernisation.

Joachim Krause is Professor for International Relations at the University of Kiel (Germany), a position he has held since 2001. He is also director of the Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel (ISPK), the chairman of the German Council on Foreign Relations’ scientific council, and a member of the executive board at Aspen Institute Germany. Prof. Krause previously held positions at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, and the Bologna Center of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. He is the editor of the forthcoming volume “Handbook Naval Strategy and Security” (Routledge, 2016).

Peter Roberts is Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. He runs two research programmes at the Institute, in Sea Power/Maritime studies and in C4ISTAR. Peter researches a range of subjects within these themes from strategy and philosophy, Sea Power, Command and Control, Maritime Studies and Naval Weapons Systems, C4ISR, Military Education and Military use of Cyber Warfare. He also oversees conferences, meetings and lectures globally in these areas. Peter’s recent publications include, “The Future of Amphibious Warfare”, RUSI Journal (160:2) 2015, The Validity of deterrence in the twenty first century, RUSI Occasional Paper July 2015, Ballistic Missile Defence: Drivers and Options, RUSI Occasional Paper August 2015, “Maritime Security in Asia and Europe” in Partners for Global Security: New direction for the UK-Japan defence and security relationship, (ed. Eyl, Tsuruoka and Schwarck) RUSI-NIDS Whitehall Paper (3–15), as well as numerous OpEds and articles in the professional media. His upcoming publications include, ISR in 2035 and beyond (RUSI, 2015) and Sovereignty: updating the concept for defence and security (Taylor and Francis, 2015). He is a commentator for several international news outlets and has provided evidence for various parliamentary bodies both nationally and across organisations. Peter retired from the Royal Navy in January 2014 after a career as a Warfare Officer, serving both as a Commanding Officer and National Military Representative in a variety of roles with all three branches of the British Armed forces, the US Coast Guard, US Navy, US Marine Corps and intelligence services from a variety of other nations. He has served as chairman for several NATO working groups and 5 Eyes Maritime tactics symposia. He has a Masters degree from King’s College London in Defence Studies and is a Visiting Lecturer in Strategy at the Portsmouth Business School at the University of Portsmouth, as well as being Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

From June 2008 to May 2011, Mr. Stubbs was responsible for the coordination and implementation of Maritime Domain Awareness programmes, policies, and related issues across the Defense Department. In addition, from January to May 2009, Mr. Stubbs served as the Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy (Acting). In this position, he advised the Secretary of the Navy and the Under Secretary of the Navy on national security, foreign policy and intelligence issues. Prior to joining the Department of the Navy, Mr. Stubbs served as the Maritime Security Advisor to the Special Envoy for Middle East Regional Security, General James Jones USMC, Ret., and was a member of the Secretary of the Navy's Advisory Board to advise the Secretary on naval and maritime matters. Mr. Stubbs began his career as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. He served on the staff of the National Security Council, military aide to the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Commanding Officer of USCGC HARRIET LANE, and Commandant of Cadet at the Coast Guard Academy. He was also assigned as the Assistant Commandant for Capability with responsibility for the Coast Guard’s 275-ships, 2,000-boats, 220-aircraft, and 188-multi-mission coastal stations, as well as the Coast Guard’s intelligence programme, and the 35,000-members in the volunteer Auxiliary. As a Coast Guardsman, Mr. Stubbs also served in the U.S. Navy as a division officer in USS BADGER during a combat tour in Vietnam, and as an instructor at the Naval War College. He qualified for a Surface Warfare Officer Pin and is a graduate of Tactical Action Officer School. Mr. Stubbs received a Bachelor’s of Science from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a master’s in business administration from the University of Washington, and an master’s of arts with distinction from the Naval War College.

Dr. Igor Sutyagin's is RUSI’s Senior Research Fellow in Russian Studies. His research is concerned with US-Russian relations, strategic armaments developments and broader nuclear arms control, anti-ballistic missile defence systems. Prior to joining RUSI, Dr Sutyagin completed his PhD in History of Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Moscow Institute for the USA and Canada Studies (Russian Academy of Science), which was supervised by Professor Andrey Kokoshin. His thesis explored the US Navy's role in carrying out the US foreign policy tasks throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He has written extensively on nuclear and conventional arms control, including naval arms control, safety and security of nuclear weapons, modernization and development of modern armaments as well as issues associated with ABM systems and their stabilising influence upon of the US-Russian relationship. He has authored over 100 articles and booklets published in the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland. He is also the co-author of the book "Russian Strategic Nuclear Weapons". Igor worked at the Institute of US and Canadian Studies for twelve years at the Political-Military Studies Department, where he held the position of the head of section for US military-technical and military-economy policy. Igor also has a Masters Degree in Radio-physics and Electronics from the Physics Department, Moscow State University (1988).

Dr. Lee Willett is the editor of IHS Jane’s Navy International and head of HIS Jane’s Naval Desk. He has over 25 years of experience in delivering independent insight and analysis on a range of naval and wider defence and security matters. In his first year in post, he led the successful delivery of online and print content of a principal global naval publication, increasing the level of international coverage. Additionally, he deepened his expertise by becoming IHS’s senior analyst on naval developments in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr. Willett has published a number of major feature articles in HIS Jane’s defence titles and presented at a variety of international conferences, including at the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. In his previous position as a senior research fellow at an independent think-tank, he led the development of a programme in maritime studies and published hundreds of pieces of written work, which range from monographs and book chapters to editorial comments in daily media. He convened a broad range of high-level discussion meetings involving senior international defence and security leaders from across the military, political and industrial fields and spoke at dozens of major international events. Dr. Willett’s degrees include a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Modern European Studies, International Relations with French, a Master of Arts in War Studies and a doctorate in War Studies, specialization in US/Soviet nuclear arms control.