Dual Milestones: LISC/ESC 40th & 30th Anniversaries - An Alumni Event

For the 40th Anniversary of the LISC (formerly ITC) and the 30th Anniversary of the ESC (formerly ETC), the GCSP is delighted to host a joint anniversary event on Friday, 18 September 2026.

This milestone event will bring together alumni and experts to reflect on the evolution of European and international security over the past three/four decades while examining the strategic challenges shaping the years ahead.

Two high-level panels will critically assess how security thinking and practice are adapting to a context shaped by geopolitical fragmentation, technological disruption, and increasing normative contestation.

The European Security Course (ESC) has long emphasised the importance of situating regional dynamics within broader global trends. Today, Europe’s security environment is characterised by simultaneous crises and structural shifts that challenge earlier assumptions about stability, integration, and predictability.

At the international level, security is increasingly shaped by the interaction between rules-based frameworks and more transactional approaches to cooperation and competition. These dynamics do not replace one another but coexist - often uneasily - creating new forms of uncertainty for policymakers and practitioners.

Over four decades, the Leadership in International Security Course (LISC) has focused on navigating this complexity. In the current environment, this requires not only analytical agility but also the ability to operate across fragmented systems, manage ambiguity, and translate evolving frameworks into actionable policies.

You will gain

• Key insights into the evolving European and international security landscape, including current drivers of fragmentation and change
• Reflections on leadership and decision-making in contexts of complexity and uncertainty
• Perspectives on how security frameworks need to evolve to meet shifting geopolitical and institutional dynamics 
• An opportunity to reconnect with fellow alumni and GCSP experts, as well as engaging with the wider alumni community

We look forward to welcoming you to this milestone anniversary to reconnect, reflect, and contribute to the evolving conversation on international security.

Event Agenda 

The times indicated below are CEST – Geneva time.

09:30-10:00 Welcome Coffee

10:00-10:30 Official Opening & Welcome Remarks

• Welcome Remarks: Dr Siobhan Martin, Deputy Director of Executive Education, GCSP
• Keynote Address: Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Executive Director, Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP)  
   

10:30-12:30 LISC Panel: What Leadership is Needed Today? Navigating Complexity, Uncertainty, and Systemic Change

As LISC celebrates its 40th anniversary, this panel will explore how the demands of leadership have evolved in an era of geopolitical competition, technological disruption and interconnected crises. Bringing together academics and practitioners from the GCSP community, panellists will reflect on the lessons of political leadership during periods of profound change, strategic decision-making under uncertainty, leadership in times of crisis, and the role of multilateral cooperation in addressing shared security challenges. Together, they will consider what kinds of leadership are needed for the security challenges of the decades ahead.

Speakers:  

• Colonel Veronica Arhin, Acting Director General, Department of Public Relations, Ghana Armed Forces, GCSP Alumna (tbc)
• Professor Dr Pal Dunay, Director of the OSCE Academy, Bishkek; Former ITC/LISC Director (1996-2004; 2007-2014) 
• Dr Wahid Majrooh, Founder and Executive Director, Afghanistan Center for Health and Peace Studies (ACHPS), Geneva; Former Minister of Public Health, Afghanistan; GCSP Alumnus and GCSP Executive-in-Residence Fellow
• H.E. Heidi Schroderus-Fox, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations Office, Geneva; GCSP Alumna 

Chair:  

• Dr Siobhan Martin, Deputy Director of Executive Education, GCSP 

12:30-14:00 Standing Lunch 

14:00-16:00 ESC Panel: Europe in a Fragmented Security Landscape: Continuity, Rupture, and Strategic Adaptation

The 30th anniversary ESC panel will open with a reflection on the course’s founding assumptions in 1996 and which remain relevant today. It will then examine continuity in European security, including NATO’s deterrence role, EU security and defence integration, and multilateral cooperation. It will explore major ruptures, from Russia’s war against Ukraine and weakened arms control to hybrid threats and shifting US priorities. Finally, panellists will consider Europe’s strategic adaptation, focusing on defence investment, burden-sharing, EU–NATO cooperation, and balancing strategic autonomy with alliance dependence.

Speakers:  

• Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Executive Director, GCSP 
• Dr Jamie Shea, Professor of Strategy and Security of the Strategy and Security Institute, University of Exeter, United Kingdom (tbc) 
• Ms Andreja Kokalj, Former Minister of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia; GCSP Alumna
• Dr Gervais Rufyikiri, Former Vice-President of Burundi, GCSP Executive-in-Residence Fellow (tbc) 

 Chair:  

• Ms Anna Brach, Head of Human Security and Planetary Resilience, GCSP 

16:00-16:30 Coffee Connections Session

16:30-17:00 Closing Remarks

• Dr Ivan Ureta, Deputy Executive Director, Director of Executive Education, GCSP
• Ms Isabelle Gillet, Head, Alumni & Community Engagement