Back from hashtag#PDSF2026 – Paris Defense and Strategy Forum where I had the opportunity (and the honor) to present my academic research findings during the last year: the way the Black Sea borderland has become a bellwether for other hashtag#borderlands and hashtag#GeopoliticalNodes of the world, a discussion that also looked at what indicators to use for better understanding the way hashtag#geoeconomics (and economic diplomacy) shapes our world.

My main takeaways?
1) Forums are for bringing together academics and practitioners so they can better understand their field’s challenges.
2) While there are many buzz words that sound great on TV and policy debates – like cognitive warfare or geopolitical risk, it is the researchers from the academic community that help deconstruct these concepts for better understanding the processes that are challenging our security and defense – R&D and education are the foundation to policy making (not the other way around).

The hashtag#PDSF2026 reminded me about my PhD student days, when, as a junior at Stratfor, I was looking forward to academic debates on international risk assessment (my topic) because I wanted to build my thesis while doing a good job at work. Now, as a professor, the Forum served for doing a good job as a researcher and analyst, while taking notes of how to better facilitate students’ access to such debates (and I was happy to meet a doctoral student from SNSPA at the conference).

Many thanks to Christine Dugoin-Clément- PhD and Centre de Recherche de la Gendarmerie Nationale (CRGN) for organizing and hosting the academic debate! Thank you for sharing your research, for your questions and debate Derkjan Elzinga, Willem-Jan van den Heuvel, Adeline Frenzel-Piasentin, Deinera J., Marten Risius, Jason Thatcher, Mario Brasil do Nascimento, Wellington Dantas de Amorim, Christian Agbagala, @Patrick Bas and Eva Klusová Kluslova (including for the photos!!)

Special thanks to Andrii Zablotskyi for reminding me to discuss about the positive effects of the Black Sea geopolitical node (because yes, there are some!)

And of course, thank you to my supporters in my research endeavors on the topic (and not only this topic): Scoala Nationala de Studii Politice si Administrative (SNSPA), New Strategy Center, and my “home” Geopolitical Futures peers!
I look forward to the next year’s debate!