We are honored that the International Security Forum Bonn 2025 runs under the patronage of the Minister for Federal, European and International Affairs and Media of North Rhine-Westphalia and Head of the State Chancellery, Nathanael Liminski. During the Main Day, held under the title “Ruptures Waiting for Responses. Reconsidering European Security Relations,” international experts will gather in Bonn to assess the evolving European security architecture in light of deepening geopolitical fragmentation. What shifts are underway within the Transatlantic Alliance? How should German, European, and American foreign and security policy adapt to a landscape shaped by uncertainty, multipolarity, and war on the EU’s borders?

One panel will also address the state of Middle Eastern geopolitics, examining regional rivalries and emerging opportunities for cooperation. Another panel will revisit the strategic role of so-called middle powers in a world increasingly focused on Great Power competition — asking what potential these actors hold for rebalancing and stabilizing international security cooperation in times of geopolitical volatility.

The Bonn Future Lab on Strategic Foresight continues as a multi-day format featuring two main elements: First, an international conference day focused in 2025 on the theme “Securing a Sustainable Space.” Discussions will explore space as a critical domain for security, economic development, and multilateral governance. This is followed by an intensive Strategic Foresight Workshop, where young professionals (“decision-makers of the day after tomorrow”) engage with methods of strategic foresight after being introduced to key challenges by high-level expert panels. The Bonn Future Lab is part of the broader research initiative Sicherheitsforschung.NRW.

More information about this year’s International Security Forum can be found below.

4.30 p.m. - 6.00 p.m.

Institut français, Adenauerallee 35, 53113 Bonn

Registration

Bonn Student Group for Foreign and Security Policy                                                             

• Prof. Dr. Klemens H. Fischer, Professor for International Relations and Geopolitics at the University of Cologne

6.15 p.m. - 7.45 p.m.

Institut français, Adenauerallee 35, 53113 Bonn

Registration

German-Franco Strategic Dialogue

• Dr. Claire Demesmay, Attaché for Higher Education Cooperation at the French Embassy and Director of the Institut français Bonn

• Anna Kravtšenko, Project Manager Ukraine at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder, Fellow at CASSIS
• Dr. Johanna Möhring, Associate Fellow at the Centre Thucydide in Paris and Lecturer at Sciences Po Grenoble
• Dr. Shushanik Minasyan-Ostermann, Fellow at CASSIS
• Chair: Andreas Noll, Deutschlandfunk

7.00 p.m. - 8.30 p.m.

Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn

Registration

Opening and Words of Welcome

• Prof. Dr. Volker Kronenberg, Speaker and Director of CASSIS
• Minister Nathanael Liminski, Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs, and Media of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Prof. Dr. Birgit U. Münch, Vice Rector for International Affairs of the University of Bonn

Keynote “Transatlantic Security – Time for a Requiem?“

• Ambassador retd. Daniel Benjamin, President of the American Academy in Berlin

Keynote “Awake at Last? German Security Policies in the Age of Polycrisis“

• Ms. Sara Nanni, MP, Spokesperson for Security Policy for the BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN Parliamentary Group

Coffee Break

Panel 1 “The Goals are Known, But the Path Is Unclear – Reconsidering European Security Relations“

• Dr. Hans-Peter Bartels, German Society for Security Policy (GSP)
• Ambassador retd. Claude-France Arnould, Brussels Institute for Geopolitics & former Executive Director of the European Defence Agency
• Prof. Dr. Artur Gruszczak, Jagiellonian University Krakow
• Dr. Sarah Kirchberger, Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK)

Chair: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schlie, CASSIS 

Lunch Break

2.30 p.m.

Panel 2 “Responding to Technological Ruptures. Digital Dependencies during Geopolitical Rivalries”

• Ms. Julia Ebert, Vodafone Institute
• Dr. Sven Herpig, Interface
• Prof. Dr. Paul Timmers, European University Cyprus
• PD Dr. Laura Mahrenbach, Technical University Munich & Quincy Institute (USA)

Chair: Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer, CASSIS

Panel 3 “Between Normalization and Conflagration: Decoding the Middle East’s Competing Futures“

• Dr. Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG) & CASSIS
• PD Dr. Evelyn Bokler, CASSIS
• Dr. Gedaliah Afterman, Abba Eban Institute & CASSIS
• Dr. Désirée Kaiser, University of Bonn

Chair: Ambassador retd. Prof. James D. Bindenagel, CASSIS

Arrival, Registration (University Forum Bonn)

Opening & Welcome

• Dr. Enrico Fels, CASSIS
• Federal Minister Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space
• Prof. Dr. Reinhold Ewald, Space Ambassador of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Keynote 1

“Rise up! The Strategic Necessity of Advancing the European Space Economy” 

• Matthias Wachter, Managing Director at NewSpace Initiative, Federation of German Industries (BDI)

Panel 1 “Strategic Conditions for a Sustainable European Space Industry”

• Ms. Sabine von der Recke, OHB Systems AG
• Dr. Susanne Heckrodt, German Space Agency
• Prof. Dr. Bruno Reynaud De Sousa, University of Minho
• Dr. Susann Lüdtke, Lüdtke Intelligence & Analytics

Chair: Prof. Géraud Gaillard, International Space University

Keynote 2 
“Space as an Indispensable Ecosystem for Sustaining Security” 

• Maj. Gen. Michael Traut, Head of the German Bundeswehr's Space Command

Panel 2 “Space Between Securitization and the Astropolitical Needs for Security” 

• Dr. Béatrice Hainaut, Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l’Ecole Militaire (IRSEM)
• PD Dr. Antje Nötzold, University of the Bundeswehr Munich & CASSIS
• Prof. Dr. Bleddyn Bowen, Durham University
• Mr. Tal Inbar, Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance

Chair: Dr. Gilles Rabin, Hic et Nunc 

Keynote 3 
“Ensuring Governance and Governability of a Sustainable Space in an Age of Astropolitik” 

• Dr. Gerald Braun, Permanent Deputy to the Director of Security and Special Assignments, German Space Agency at DLR

Panel 3 “Space Governance amidst the Decay of Multilateralism”

• Prof. Dr. Mai’a Cross, Northeastern University Boston
• Dr. Kunhan Li, Digital Economic Security Lab (DIESL), Aalto University
• Ms. Juliana Süß, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)
• Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dr. h.c. Stephan Hobe, Director of the Institute for Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law at the University of Cologne

Chair: Mr. Jens Schroeter, ArianeGroup

Welcome

Dr. Mayssoun Zein Al Din, Director of the Academy for International Affairs NRW (AIA)

Reception incl. Dinner Speech on“Europe’s Future in Space"

By State Secretary Paul F. Höller, Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Chair: PD Dr. Antje Nötzold, University of the Bundeswehr Munich & CASSIS

Wake-Up Call 

"Auf Wiedervorlage. Über die außen- und sicherheitspolitische Strategiefähigkeit der Bundesregierung" 

Welcome: Dr. Enrico Fels, CASSIS

• Prof. Dr. René Bantes, Fraunhofer INT
• Dr. Henning Riecke, Bundesakademie für Sicherheitspolitik (BAKS)
• Dr. Olaf Theiler, Bundeswehr

Chair: Sibel Öztürk-Baştanoğlu, Hanns Seidel Foundation

Recap (Plenum)

Überblick über den Workshopverlauf 

Methodische Einführung

Mittagspause

Mittagspause

„Sharktank of the Futures“ 
Präsentation und Diskussionen der Szenarien und Strategien mit Praktikern und Experten 

• Dr. Julia Leininger, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
• Katja Grünfeld, Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law at the University of Cologne
• Dr. Arne Sönnichsen, Institut für qualifizierende Innovationsforschung und -beratung (IQIB)
• Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder, CASSIS