CfP — 2nd Annual Nordic IHL/LOAC Symposium

CALL FOR PAPERS – NORDIC EARLY CAREER PROFESSIONALS

2^nd Annual Nordic IHL/LOAC Symposium

Copenhagen, Denmark, 28-29 May 2026

 IHL/LOAC Implications for Nordic Preparedness in Relation to Emerging Threats and Technologies

We invite early career professionals (ECPs) from or based in the Nordic region to submit abstracts for the 2^nd Annual Nordic IHL/LOAC Symposium, co-hosted by the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Military Studies, the Danish Red Cross, the Danish Ministry of Defence, and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Through the lens of International Humanitarian Law/Law of Armed Conflict and related areas of international law (IHL/LOAC+), it will explore how developments in modern warfare – in terms of geography, actors, targets, and technology – have affected and will affect Nordic preparedness on the home front and in the European theatre.

The Symposium will take place from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon and will feature five panels of Nordic-based experts from State authorities, academia, and civil society as well as a number of global IHL/LOAC experts. The fifth panel, the subject of this Call for Papers, will consist exclusively of ECPs.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Lt. Col. (ret.) Chris Jenks is currently the Senior Law of War Adviser to the US Army and a Research Professor of Law at the SMU-Dedman School of Law in Dallas, He ended his military career as Chief of the International Law Branch of the US Army JAG Corps. Since leaving the military, he has served as Special Counsel to the Department of Defense, as Senior Policy Adviser to the Office of Global Criminal Justice, and as an autonomy and artificial intelligence research fellow at the Center for Naval Analysis.

Dr. Teija Tiilikainen, a former Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, is currently the Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and Vice-Chair of the Board of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. She previously served as the Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and as the Director of the Network of European Studies at the University of Helsinki.

BACKGROUND

At the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (2024), Nordic States and their respective Red Cross National Societies adopted a joint pledge towards Organizing and hosting a Rotating Nordic IHL/LOAC Symposium on an annual basis. The Symposium series is aimed at strengthening collaboration, facilitating expertise and knowledge transfer, and enhancing the dissemination of IHL/LOAC principles among different stakeholders within the participating states and across the Nordic and potentially neighbouring regions by harnessing the collective convening power and resources of Nordic states in a sustainable manner. The 1^st Symposium was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 2025.

ELIGIBILITY

The early career professional panel is open to both academics and professionals who are either nationals of or based in a Nordic state (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) or one of their autonomous territories (the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland). Academics should be in the first five (5) years of their career post-PhD. Professionals should be in their first five years of work in the international-law space.

 SUBMISSION

If you are interested in participating, please submit (1) an abstract of no more than 500 words on any topic related to the symposium theme and (2) a statement of eligibility no later than 28 February 2026 at 11:59 CET. Abstracts should be sent to Prof. Kevin Jon Heller at kevinheller@ifs.ku.dk.

The Centre for Military Studies will cover travel and accommodation for the ECP’s selected to present.