The Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) and the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) are jointly launching the Hybrid Warfare Lab. The Lab will study the nature, scale, causes and consequences of hybrid operations against European countries. The project is funded by the Ministry of Defence.
In recent years, Russian hybrid operations in particular have become an increasingly prominent topic in discussions about European and national security. These operations include sabotage, cyberattacks, influence campaigns and even attempts to carry out terrorist attacks against civil aviation. Undesired foreign influence and economic espionage linked to the Chinese government have also become a concern. The Hybrid Warfare Lab brings together expertise from security studies, international relations, data analysis and computer science to improve our understanding of these phenomena.
Research theme's
Researchers from FGGA and LIACS will investigate topics including:
- Trends in the nature and scale of hybrid threats against Europe.
- How the movements of "shadow fleet" vessels in the North Sea and Baltic Sea can be tracked more effectively.
- The consequences of hybrid operations.
- How escalations in the use of hybrid means can be explained.
The research will rely exclusively on publicly available sources. Its findings will be made available to policymakers, researchers and the wider public through open-access publications and other forms of knowledge sharing.
Interfaculty collaboration
The collaboration between FGGA and LIACS is an important part of the project. FGGA contributes expertise in international security, intelligence studies and political violence. LIACS contributes expertise in AI and data science for image processing and analysis. By combining these areas of expertise, the Hybrid Warfare Lab supports a multidisciplinary approach to an urgent security challenge.
