ABOUT MIND THE GAP
To what extent do academics and other experts contribute to security policy statecraft in small, centralized, and exposed states? How wide is the gap between external expertise and government security policy?
We investigate these questions by tracing historical and contemporary NATO-related policy decisions in Denmark and Norway.
Meet the Team
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Sten Rynning
PROFESSOR
Areas of expertise
Professor Sten Rynning is an internationally renowned expert on NATO and transatlantic security affairs as well as a seasoned practitioner of the “bridging the gap” ambition.Rynning works in the pragmatic, cross-disciplinary War Studies tradition where scholarly excellence is based on not only original thinking but also an engagement with society. It is from this extensive experience that the Mind the Gap project has grown. Rynning secured funding for the project from an interdisciplinary grant from the Danish Research Council.
An avid political commentator and public lecturer, Rynning has authored several books on the Atlantic Alliance, most recently “NATO: A History of the World’s Most Powerful Alliance, from Cold War to Ukraine” (Yale University Press, 2024). Sten Rynning serves as the director of the Danish Institute for Advanced Study.
Telephone (+45) 65 50 21 93
Email: sry@mind-the-gap.dk
SDU bio: sdu.dk -
Rasmus Mølgaard Mariager (Co-PI)
PROFESSOR
Areas of expertise
Professor Rasmus Mariager is a leading Danish historian specializing in contemporary Danish and European history, with a strong focus on security studies. Over the past two decades, he has earned two doctoral degrees and authored multiple monographs, contributing significantly to the study of Denmark’s role in international affairs.Beyond academia, he has played a key role in policy-relevant research, co-authoring three government-commissioned white books and serving as Head of Research for Denmark’s independent inquiry into its military engagements in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq (2016). His work bridges historical analysis with contemporary security challenges, providing critical insights for both scholars and policymakers.
Telephone (+45) 51 29 96 06
Email: rmariager@hum.ku.dk
UCPH bio: ku.dk -
Anne Ingemann Johansen
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Areas of expertise
Anne Ingemann Johansen is an Assistant Professor at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark, specializing in European security policy. Johansen’s research focuses on NATO’s evolving role in European security, particularly its relations with Ukraine and Russia. With deep expertise in Ukraine’s political history and security dynamics, Johansen analyses how policymakers navigate complex geopolitical challenges and engage with external expertise in shaping national security policy. Additionally, her research focuses on the European Union’s role as a security actor, its cooperation with NATO, and its influence on regional stability.Johansen’s work integrates insights from international relations, security studies, and policy analysis to contribute to academic and policy-relevant debates on the future of European security and transatlantic security cooperation.
Telephone (+45) 28 25 05 24
Email: aij@mind-the-gap.dk
SDU bio: sdu.dk -
Anders Dramstad
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Areas of expertise
Anders Dramstad is a Norwegian historian specialising in Norwegian security policy and North-European security issues and is currently employed as a research assistant at the University of Copenhagen (KU). Following his completion of his master's degree in history at UiT Norway's Arctic University in 2021, Dramstad has, in the period January 2022 to November 2023, had a research commitment at The Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies' (IFS) Center for security policy through the ongoing research project "Norwegian security policy in a strategic perspective".In Dramstad's research work, he attempts to dive deep into the complex nature of security policy making through a combination of contemporary and historical, long-term perspectives. Through meticulous archival work and analyzes of contemporary political and societal framework conditions and issues, Dramstad seeks to combine past and contemporary factors to shed light on both persistent and new issues in security policy development patterns in general and related to Norwegian and transatlantic security policy in particular.
In the Mind the Gap project, Dramstad's research will focus on examining previous policy-making processes within Norwegian and Danish security policy, which together can contribute to shedding new light on how we should understand today's system and dynamics.
Telephone (+47) 90 08 07 46
Email: adra@hum.ku.dk
KU/IFS bio: forsvaret.no -
Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv
PROFESSOR
Areas of expertise
Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv is a professor of security and geopolitics at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and leads the research group “The Grey Zone”. She also continues in her role as the Arctic Six Chair in Security Studies. Hoogensen Gjørv's research explores tensions between perceptions of security (from individual and societal to state and international security), with a focus on hybrid threats and warfare, civil-military cooperation and Total Defence, and Arctic security. She is interested in how non-state actor perceptions of security have been acknowledged or informed state policymaking.In the Mind the Gap project Hoogensen Gjørv examines to what degree, and through what sort of organisations (NATO) or conduits (Centres of Excellence) academic research is able to contribute to security and defence policy debates and/or inform policy decision-making.
Telephone (+47) 77 64 55 93 / (+47) 94 84 26 10
Email: gunhild.hoogensen.gjorv@uit.no
UiT bio: uit.no -
Jamie Shea
Former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. Previously NATO Spokesman and Director of Policy Planning.
Areas of expertise
Jamie Shea is a former NATO official with several decades of experience working on NATO and European and transatlantic security and defence issues. He is Emeritus Professor of Strategy and Security at the University of Exeter and has taught also at Syracuse University, Surrey University and the College of Europe in Natolin.Currently he is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House and a Senior Fellow at both The European Policy Centre and Friends of Europe.
As part of the Mind the Gap project, Jamie Shea is focusing on the evolution of policy planning and strategic forecasting within NATO and how they have engaged outside expertise in the academic, scientific and think tank communities. In particular, he is investigating the influence that this type of outside expertise has had in improving the quality of NATO’s analysis and decision making and how NATO could better use academic inputs and research findings going forward.
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Hanna Emilie Moen Lüthe
STUDENT ASSISTANT
Field of work
Master student in international security and law at the University of Southern Denmark.Telephone: (+47) 46 95 00 48
Email: halut23@student.sdu.dk
Advisory Board
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Carsten Søndergaard
Søndergaard has a long career in the Danish Foreign Service. He has been ambassador to Turkey (1999-2001), Germany (2005-2010), NATO (2010-2014), Ireland (2014-2018) and Russia (2018-2022). Throughout his career, Søndergaard has been focused on issues related to European Security. Now retired, he acts as a consultant in the financial sector. Carsten Søndergaard holds an MA in political science from the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
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Svein Efjestad
Efjestad has a long career in the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, holding various positions over the years. From 1995 to 2013, he served as the Director General for Security Policy. Following this, he transitioned to the role of Policy Director within the same ministry. Efjestad has also been represented Norway in a number of committees in NATO, including the High Level Group and the Senior Official Group. Efjestad retired from the Ministry of Defence in 2022 and is currently a senior advisor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Svein Efjestad holds a degree in political science, international law and history from the University of Oslo.
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Beatrice Heuser
Heuser holds the Chair in International Relations at the University of Glasgow. From 1991 to 2003 she taught at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, as lecturer, senior lecturer, and then chair of International and Strategic Studies. From 1997 to 1998, Heuser worked in the International Staff at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. From 2003 to 2007, she served as Director for Research at the Military History Research Office of the Bundeswehr in Potsdam. Beatrice Heuser holds a BA and an MA from the Universities of London and a PhD from Oxford.
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Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer
Braut-Hegghammer is an Associate Professor at the University of Oslo, specialising in nuclear strategy and security studies, and the founding director of the Oslo Nuclear Project. She has worked for several years as a researcher and assistant professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. Braut-Hegghammer has also been a Faculty Fellow at Stanford University. Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
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Rolf Tamnes
Tamnes is currently a research professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Between 1981 and 2021 he served as a research fellow and later as a professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies/Norwegian Defence University College. He was director of the institute from 1996 to 2012, and an adjunct professor at the University of Oslo from 1995 to 2009. Tamnes has chaired and been a member of several governmental committees and commissions. Most recently, Tamnes was a member of the Norwegian Defence Commission from 2022 to 2023. Rolf Tamnes holds a PhD and an MA from the University of Oslo.
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Jim Goldgeier
Goldgeier is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor at American University, where he was dean from 2011 to 2017. Previously, he taught at George Washington University and Cornell University and served on the National Security Council. Goldgeier chairs the State Department Historical Advisory Committee and is a member of the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board. Jim Goldgeier holds a PhD and an MA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA from Harvard University.