The GCSP announces 2026 Transformative Prize Winners

03 June 2026

On 3 June, the GCSP proudly unveiled the winners of the 2026 GCSP Prize for Transformative Futures in Peace and Security

The announcement was the highlight of a dynamic, online ceremony held during GCSP Transformative Futures Day, an event dedicated to fostering and exploring ground-breaking approaches to the world's most pressing peace and security challenges. The event opened with a compelling webinar on “Crisis Management in Outer Space: The Next Strategic Frontier,” featuring an insightful presentation by Mr Niko Orell. The session sparked a dynamic exchange of ideas during a lively Q&A moderated by Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan. 

A growing global hub for innovation 

Since its launch in 2023, the GCSP Prize has grown into a dynamic global platform for innovation in peace and security, bringing together a diverse community of visionary individuals and organisations dedicated to building a more peaceful, secure, and resilient world. The 2026 edition attracted an impressive 337 submissions from 95 countries across six continents, reflecting a remarkable breadth of perspectives and creative solutions aimed at addressing today’s most pressing global challenges. 

Following a rigorous and highly competitive review process, the jury selected three outstanding initiatives for their exceptional vision, originality, and potential to advance sustainable peace and positive global change. In addition, two projects received Honourable Mentions in recognition of their promising contributions to the field. 

The recipients of the 2026 GCSP Prize for Innovation in Global Security are as follows: 

Honorable mentions: 

1st Place: The Blue Box for Humanity: environmental sensing for civilian protection in conflict zones 

The Blue Box for Humanity is an automated, environmental monitoring system currently in development, designed to provide humanitarian actors and local authorities with a previously unrealised capacity to safely collect data on armed attacks in proximity to civilians and civilian objects. 

Once deployed, the system can enhance the safety and security of humanitarian staff and the civilian populations through automated alerts. This also can contribute to the ‘localisation’ of humanitarian response, by enabling local communities to own and manage monitoring infrastructure, creating a decentralised, near real-time evidence base on civilian harm. 

By collecting environmental data related to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, the Blue Box may also support new clinical insights into the long-term health impacts of war-related toxic debris exposure. 

Ultimately, the Blue Box aims to enable more assertive humanitarian protection and harm mitigation strategies by delivering a continuous flow of credible information, allowing humanitarians to engage armed actors more effectively, strengthen response efforts, and advance advocacy and diplomacy for civilian protection. 

2nd Place: The Principle of Naturality: Mathematical Pathways to Peace 

This project introduces the Principle of Naturality, a conflict-resolution framework designed to uncover pathways to agreement between actors with deeply opposing positions. Rather than trying to reconcile conflicting values or identities directly, it follows each party’s reasoning to its logical conclusions until their interests naturally converge. Combining propositional logic, semantic analysis, natural language inference, and graph theory, the approach identifies hidden points of alignment. Tested on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, it demonstrated that cooperation can strengthen all sides, offering a scalable tool for peacebuilding and complex negotiations. 

Mr Elio Javier Gogol Merletti stated: 

‘Conflicts are usually treated as battles that someone must win. The Principle of Naturality starts from the opposite idea: that within every confrontation lie latent paths toward common ground, waiting to be discovered. I am honoured that the GCSP has recognised this vision. I am grateful, and more committed than ever to continuing this line of research - and to discovering how geometry and AI can contribute to peace among peoples. Gunpowder doesn't solve problems; it only buries the solutions.’ 

3rd Place: Evaluating agentic LLMs for global health workers in crisis settings: AI-powered learning tools for caregivers in crisis settings 

This project focuses on developing and testing an agentic AI tool that helps rapidly train frontline workers who support displaced children in crisis settings, where traditional training methods are often too slow or inaccessible. By providing scalable, on-demand guidance and learning support, this AI system aims to equip caregivers with the skills needed to respond to children’s needs more effectively. The initiative brings together academic institutions and child welfare organizations from the U.S., Turkey, Ireland, and Jordan to improve care for vulnerable children affected by displacement. 

Dr Qusai Khraisha declared: 

'Our goal here is to design and test an AI system that widens the circle of help around displaced children by bringing in more people, not to replace existing ones.' 

Honorable mention: The Neuro-Architecture of Peace 

The Neuro-Architecture of Peace presents a bold operational framework designed to move global security beyond reactive crisis management toward proactive, sustainable stabilization. Built around the proprietary Governing-Force Model (GFM), it reconceives health, justice, and security systems as interconnected Complex Adaptive Systems that shape societal resilience in real time. At the core of the framework is the concept of the Vulnerability Multiplier - the critical threshold at which state intervention unintentionally deepens local instability rather than alleviating it. To counter this dynamic, the model introduces the Phronetic Pivot: a practical mechanism for recalibrating governance toward adaptive, human-centered stabilization. 

Honorable mention: Realpix - An API for identifying deepfake images 

RealPix, developed by Impacto Digital, is an open infrastructure initiative that detects AI-edited images through its public API. By analysing pixel patterns, metadata, and AI artifacts, it generates authenticity scores that help users quickly identify deepfakes and manipulated visuals. Created to defend human rights and combat online harassment, misogyny, and digital abuse, RealPix is designed for journalists, NGOs, and human rights defenders working in low-connectivity environments across Latin America. Beyond protecting vulnerable communities, it also advances ethical AI governance through transparent, decentralized API standards. 

 

The Jury for the 2026 GCSP Prize for Innovation in Global Security included: 

Gear up for fresh ideas and bold solutions! The GCSP Prize for Transformative Futures in Peace and Security will open its next call for submissions in December 2026!