European Horizons: Nato Summit

In a time of perpetually shifting global landscapes and multifarious discourses around hybrid warfare and its threats, prepping a new generation of security professionals and leaders seems to take increasing precedent. The 3rd of May’s 2025 European Horizons NATO Summithosted up to 150 students who sought to engage not just in discussions on hybrid warfare and security challenges, but to explore how their future contributions would shape the ever malleable ecosystem of states, international institutions and power-seeking actors. The event brought together experienced professionals in the field in hosting engaging panels and workshops from diplomats, military leaders, cybersecurity experts, and university students from across the network. 

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Participants reported a variety of goals for the event, ranging from aspirations to work for NATO and seeking to gain insights in the workshops that would facilitate future internships and career incentives, to a general interest in the speakers and domains such as hyper security and hybrid warfare. Attendees varied from students of political science and philosophy to psychology and history students interested in the field. Notable commonalities amongst participants were the interests in changing global landscapes and a desire to speak to like-minded people on the direction of global warfare and securitization efforts. NATO Lieutenant General Ton van Loon exceptional introduction set an optimistic tone for the conference, promising that these expectations would be met and hopefully exceeded. Touching on both his professional experiences and his belief in the generation before him and their capacity to incite change, he inspired excitement about the ensuing conference. 

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Panel 1 on “Hybrid Threats and the Future of European Defence” featured Lieutenant General van Loon, Captain John G.L.J Jacobs, security professional Christian Prickaerts and Senior Europol Data Protection Specialist Jan Ellerman. They delved into war and ethics, and discussed topics ranging from European positions, the profits of war, the diversity and themeaning of hybrid warfare to the balance between securitization and preparation for conflict. Engaging and packed with insight, Panel 1 addressed the nuances of modern warfare and addressed many of the participant questions that had already been raised in registration.

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Proceeding the panel, participants broke out into four workshops. Negotiations, hosted byspecialist Hans van den Berg, was incredibly well received, with participants reporting to have received a strong foundational understanding, or building on existing knowledge, in negotiation as a from of diplomacy and applied negotiation strategies. The workshop was interactive and well structured, engaging participants in small exercises that they felt allowed them to engage in a hands on approach and experience some of the real life instances of negotiation tactics. The Crisis Simulation, led by lecturer and security professional Thanos Chatziioannou, had similarly positive reviews regarding interaction and participant engagement, which despite limited time made students aware of the fast paced and highly adaptive field of crisis management, emphasising the need to be able to operate well in high pressure scenarios and to make informed and nuanced decisions about real world dilemmas. The workgroup on Decoding Russian Interference and the Role of OSINT was hosted by strategic analyst Laura Jasper. Participants were generally united in finding that this workshop gave them interesting new insight on the types of information and theirdistribution, identifying things to be cautious of, and how intelligence services structure information intake. Participants found it beneficial in expanding on their existing knowledgeand inspired critical thinking about Russian interference and its various forms. The final workshop on Chinese Hybrid threats by strategic analysis Benedetta Girardi inspired an interactive conversation on policy rhetoric and the nuances of global power status and coercion. Participant engagement was strong, and Benedetta Girardi did well in extrapolating on the differences between mainstream discourse and the complexities of Chinese hybrid threats. 

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Following a productive coffee break in which participants shared their preliminary views of the conference and had the opportunity to network with speakers and like-minded peers, there was a notable anticipation for Panel 2. Many participants interviewed were looking forward to hearing from high ranking military officials and renowned speakers, especially considering that many students of political science were eager to learn more about the professional dimension of working in the security sector. Panel 2 on “From Diplomacy to Defence: Building a Successful Portfolio”  welcomed Colonel Mietta Groeneveld, Dutch intelligence and security specialist Eric Schouten, former Ambassador and esteemed advisor, negotiator and speaker Ron Keller and former Ambassador Kees Klompenhouwer. Together these experienced panellists opened discussions about the professional landscape and the skills necessary to enter a line of work that its so deeply impactful to the propagation of a functioning global society. 

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The day concluded with president Heleen Klapwijk bringing the focus back the importance of holding such conferences. That the goal of open discussion between students, prospective members of the international diplomatic community and current experts in the field is not only important, but brutally necessary for the continuation of open and informed discourse. The ensuing borrel at a local bar facilitated continued discussion and networking opportunities for the participants, with the panellists graciously offering valuable insight and answering questions from participants, presumably also incentivised by the free Bitterballen. Despite the success of the day, participants did mention that if the workshops had beenlonger, there would have been greater opportunity to apply some of the skills they were learning to more elaborate simulations or scenarios. But it can be said that a drawback of the conference being that there was not more of it is perhaps the perfect way to conclude reminiscing on the day, a success for the European Horizons Leiden University Chapter, and for the future of young aspiring global leaders.