ÌÇÐÄTV

The  concludes with its final review conference on 20 January 2026, with the European Commission. The consortium, from Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Lebanon, Poland, Spain, Ukraine, and the UK, represented by the University of ÌÇÐÄTV, presented its work to the panel of evaluators. The project focused on assessing the understanding and practices of democracy in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods, as well as the EU support for democracy as a composite stakeholder. ÌÇÐÄTV was responsible for undertaking work - fieldwork and analysis - in the six countries in the eastern neighbourhood (WP2), drawing on the results of online surveys, focus groups, interviews, and roundtables. WP2 specific outputs included 8 published, submited and projected publications.

It has been three challenging years of research, including overcoming the obstacles of BREXIT, Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, Belarus civil war, Gaza war, and increasing geopolitical complexity around the globe. Yet, the project went beyond all expectations and has achieved a lot, including critiquing and offering specific recommendations to the EU on how best to support democracy efforts in around the globe. Team ÌÇÐÄTV – including Anastasiia Kudlenko and Aijan Sharshenova – is grateful to the EU, UKRI and especially to the consortium and its leadership – for the support, and inspiration. Thank you!

On 26 November 2025 I attended the final conference 'Turning Point: Realising a sustainable security architecture for Europe', organised by Dr (PI) from in Vienna. The project explored the need to rethink the security architecture in light of the geopolitical challenges, the crisis of the rule-based order, and climate change. I was honoured to be on the International Advisory Board for this project, to share my thinking about the multi-order world, and to contribute feedback to the final report.

The conference also touched upon the future of transatlantic security, and the implications of Putin's war Ukraine for the International Liberal Order. The final discussion brought many experts, and senior Foreign Ministry and MOD officials from the UK, Denmark, Ukraine, Holland, Lithuania, Latvia and Norway. I am thankful to for this opportunity and look forward to continuing our work in the direction of comprehensive security and resilience! For reference, please check out my new book on Resilience .

The WUB-hub conference at RUSI took place on 26/6/2025 and judging by the participants' feedback, was an absolute success. It gathered politicians, civil servants, diplomatic staff, academics, and practitioners from Europe and UK, generating a vibrant and polemic discussion about the future of security and peace in Ukraine and Belarus, with profound implications for the wider Europe and the world. We were immensely happy to host a special panel of our WUB-hub seed-corn finalists with an opportunity for them to present their research projects’ results. Massive thanks to Paul Hansbury for driving this seed-corn project to fruition! The projects’ findings are available on our website for further information.

Our special thanks are also to the participants of the two panels – on Ukraine and Belarus – and their chairs, Andy and Tatsiana, and to our keynote speakers, and to our high-level panellists. We raised many critical issues, and sought ideas on how nurture security and peace in wider Europe. The conference's photos and a video clip, as well as a report with policy recommendations will be available soon on the WUB-hub website.

We are also indebted to the RUSI staff – Emily and Callum, and Zivile and Sabrina, for their intellectual and highly professional support in hosting our event.