Professor Sven Biscop (Director of the Egmont, Royal Institute of International Relations, Ghent University) will deliver the lecture on “The EU’s Common Defence & Security Policy (CDSP)” on Saturday February 7th, 2026 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Professor Sven Biscop is currently the Director of the Egmont, Royal Institute of International Relations in Brussels, which he joined in 2002. Previously he was the Director of the Europe in the World Programme at the Egmont Institute. Dr. Sven Biscop is Professor at Ghent University. His research and teaching focus on the strategies of the European Union, NATO, and their Member States. Sven regularly lectures for the EU’s European Security and Defence College (ESDC), as well as in various European and American staff colleges, and at the People’s University of China in Beijing. Sven also is a Senior Associate Fellow of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy and of the Baltic Defence College. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and of the Clausewitz Society. Sven’s latest book is European Strategy in the 21st Century – New Future for Old Power (Routledge, 2019). Sven Biscop has been honoured with the cross of Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium, 2020) and the Grand Decoration of Honour (Austria, 2017). In 2015, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, Sven was made an Honorary Fellow of the ESDC. His latest book is Grand Strategy in 10 Words – A Guide to Great Power Politics in the 21st Century (Bristol University Press, 2021). [read more]