Wannes Verstraete

Biography

Wannes Verstraete is a PhD Candidate at the European Security in the Indo-Pacific Age (ESIPA) research group and a Teaching Assistant in Political Science at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), specialising in deterrence and arms control. He is an Associate Fellow in the Europe in the World programme at the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations.

Wannes is also a Next Generation Fellow in the NATO NextGen Futures platform from the NATO Defense College (NDC) and a Reserve Second Lieutenant at the Department of Strategy (ACOS STRATEGY) of the Belgian Armed Forces. He holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Ghent and an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Antwerp. Previously, Wannes completed internships at the Security Policy Directorate (M1) of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2021) and at the Belgian Chamber of Representatives (2018).

Publications

• NATO stands ready to prevent escalation of the war in Ukraine Commentaries (20-06-2023)
• Why Belgium Should Create a Territorial Reserve Force Commentaries (17-04-2023)
• On the Necessity of Defending Belgian Interests in Outer Space Security Policy Briefs (6-04-2023)
• The World’s First Aircraft with Sixth-Generation Technologies to be Introduced to the Public: the B-21 Raider Bomber Commentaries (2-12-2022)
• Plan for rebuilding Belgian Defence needs to be more ambitious Commentaries (18-10-2022)