Olivier Schmitt

I am professor at the Center for War Studies (University of Southern Denmark – SDU), and will be joining the Institute for Military Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College in January 2025.  

I am currently an associate editor of the European Journal of International Security and a board member of the Journal of Strategic Studies and of the Review of International Studies. I am also a founding member of the French Association for War and Strategic Studies (AEGES), of which I was vice-president and scientific director, and a board member of the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS). My full CV (including forthcoming publications) is available here.

Before joining the University of Southern Denmark in 2015, I obtained my Ph.D from the department of War Studies, King’s College London, and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Montreal Center for International Studies (CÉRIUM). I hold MA degrees from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) and Sciences Po Aix. A reserve officer in the French air and space force, I have policy experience at the French MoD and NATO. I also worked for two think-tanks: the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Between 2020 and 2022, I was on secondment from SDU, serving as director of research and studies at the French Institute of Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN).

I conduct research in three broad fields.

First, I am interested in security and strategic studies, in particular multilateral military cooperation, comparative defence policies, arms control, military transformation and the changing character of warfare.

Second, I look at the role of ideas and norms in world politics, with research on strategic narratives, influence and propaganda, but also far-right ideologies.

Finally, I am currently conducting research in the field of economic security, and supply chain resilience in a context of geopolitical competition.

Email: schmitt (at) sam.sdu.dk
Twitter: @olivier1schmitt