Petr Fiala is a political scientist, politician and a professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Masaryk University in Brno. He has been a member of the Parliament of the Czech Republic since 2013, served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 2021 to 2025, and was Minister of Education from 2012 to 2013. In the 1980s, he took part in independent civic activities opposing the communist dictatorship. After November 1989, he helped establish the field of political science, led a number of political science departments, and served, among other roles, as Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University. He was appointed the first professor of political science in the Czech Republic.
From 2004 to 2011, he was Rector of Masaryk University, which during that period became the most sought-after Czech university and a major Central European educational and research institution. Under his leadership, among other achievements, the Masaryk University Campus was built—one of the largest higher-education construction projects in Central and Eastern Europe—and the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) project was launched. He has long been active in institutions and bodies dealing with higher education and research in the Czech Republic and abroad, and he also served as President of the Czech Rectors’ Conference. In his scholarly work, he specializes in comparative and European politics. He is the author of more than 20 books and 300 papers.
The International Institute of Political Science (
Dr Nina Græger is Director at PRIO. Prior to her current position, she served as Head of Department and Professor in International Relations at the University of Copenhagen from 2019–2025. She has previously worked as a researcher at PRIO for two periods between 1993 and 1998, and at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) from 1998–2019.
Currently, Nina Græger is particularly interested in how geopolitics and great power rivalries affect the framework for and co-operation in Nordic and European security – including territorial, hybrid and climate security. In a journal article from 2024, '
Nina Græger holds an MSc and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Oslo. Her doctoral research analyzed the restructuring and internationalization of security and defense policy in the post-Cold War era, focusing on the Norwegian Armed Forces. Her latest publications include
Henry E. Hale is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University (GW), where he also directs the
Dr Kristi Raik is the Director of ICDS from 1 January 2025. She is also an Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the University of Turku. She has previously served as the Deputy Director of ICDS, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the ICDS, Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and official at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. Her main areas of expertise are European security, strategic competition in Eastern Europe, EU foreign and security policy, and foreign and security policies of the Baltic states and Finland.
She has published in high-ranking academic journals (e.g. Geopolitics, European Security, Cooperation and Conflict) and media outlets (incl. Foreign Policy). She is a frequent commentator in the international media and has provided expert contributions to the Estonian, Finnish, EU and NATO institutions. Kristi has a PhD from the University of Turku.
Positions of responsibility