LIST OF AUTHORS
Luís Amorim is currently seconded by the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU (GSC) as a consultant to the ‘PPUE2021 Presidency Coordination Cell’ of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has held several posts in the GSC, including press officer of former High Representative Javier Solana, coordinator of the Crisis Response Section of the EU Situation Centre (SITCEN) and Head of the Security Policy Unit in DG RELEX. He participated in the first ESDC High-Level Course on CSDP. He has an academic background in Sociology and Education.
Sven Biscop read political science at Ghent University, where he also obtained his PhD, and where he works today as a Professor, lecturing on strategy and the foreign policies of Belgium and the European Union. In addition, he is the Director of the Europe in the World Programme at the Egmont–Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels, a thinktank associated with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2015, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), an EU agency where he lectures for diplomats, military staff and officials from all EU Member States. He has also been a regular speaker at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, at various staff colleges in Europe and America, and at the People’s University of China in Beijing, where he is a Senior Research Associate. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy and at the Baltic Defence College. He chairs the jury for the annual Global Strategy PhD Prize, awarded by Egmont and the ESDC. His latest book is European Strategy in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2019). Sven has been honoured with the cross of Officer of the Order of the Crown (Officier de l’Ordre de la Couronne, Belgium, 2020) and the Grand Decoration of Honour (Grosses Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste, Austria, 2017). Sven lives in Brussels with his husband Aberu, amidst a great many books, military paraphernalia and chinoiseries. Unfortunately they travel too often to keep a cat.
Vicente Diaz de Villegas works as cabinet adviser for Spain’s Defence Undersecretary for Political Affairs. Formerly he worked as the head of the information operations area in the Spanish Joint Operations Command. Between 2013 and 2016, he served in the European Union Military Staff and was responsible for the Information Operations area in the strategic planning processes related to CSDP military operations and missions. During his early career he was posted as an infantry officer in parachute, air assault and light infantry units. Lieutenant Colonel Diaz de Villegas graduated from the Spanish Joint General Staff and has an operational background with deployments in SFOR, KFOR, Amber Fox, Iraqi Freedom and Inherent Resolve.
Dirk Dubois graduated from the Belgian Military Academy with a masters degree in social and military science in 1985. In the first part of his career he occupied several operational posts, including abroad, as well as various positions as a staff officer. From 2007 to 2012 he was a training manager at the ESDC, before joining the Directorate-General for Education of the Belgian MoD. On 1 April 2015, he was appointed Head of the ESDC. In December 2017, the EU Member States decided by consensus to extend his mandate until 2022.
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