Academia and industry join forces to improve critical maritime infrastructure protection

In partnership with the University of Edinburgh and SafeSeas, the Department of Political Science is hosting a symposium on critical maritime infrastructure protection in the North Sea in Copenhagen on 23 and 24 November, 2023.

With the new awareness for the vulnerabilities of maritime infrastructures and their growing importance, in particular for the green transition, the North Sea is emerging as a major maritime security space. Yet, strategic debates mainly focus on the Baltic Sea, where the attacks on the Nordstream and Baltic Connector pipelines took place. Not only are North Sea and Baltic Sea security directly linked, but it is also important to scrutinize regional seas environments and how infrastructure protection at sea can be enhanced more broadly.

An integrated approach

The symposium brings together leading research organizations, maritime industry, and governmental representatives from the North Sea countries as well as NATO and EU. It also marks the inauguration of a new international research alliance.

“To prevent future attacks, it is time that we develop an integrated approach to critical maritime infrastructure protection. This means that civil and military governmental agencies and the industry join forces. Researchers are important in facilitating this conversation,” says Christian Bueger, professor at the department and one of the organizers of the event.

The symposium is co-funded by the Center for Military Studies, a grant by the Velux Foundation for the Ocean Infrastructure research group, as well as the Edinburgh-Copenhagen strategic partnership initiative.