Gain an immersive introduction to contemporary security challenges at the intersection of history, geopolitics, and emerging technologies with the Security and Society Summer School. Based in Warsaw, Poland, with a study tour to Berlin, the program places students in a region where historical memory, geopolitical pressure, and technological change directly shape security policy.
You’ll attend courses taught by experts and conduct applied research to understand key issues including NATO and EU security frameworks, the war in Ukraine, terrorism and radicalization, migration, energy security, cyber conflict, disinformation, and global power shifts. Across these topics, you’ll explore how AI and digital technologies are reshaping modern security environments, from information warfare and cyber operations to intelligence analysis and hybrid threats.
A core component of the program is a research internship with the Terrorism Research Center, where students develop an original research paper under expert mentorship.
This program is designed for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and young professionals.
See program application page for more information, including most up-to-date syllabus/itinerary.
Central Europe and Security Issues
This course offers a broad overview of contemporary security challenges facing Central Europe, NATO, and the European Union. It focuses on the implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the interconnected nature of conflicts in Europe and beyond, including the Middle East.
Students examine terrorism and counterterrorism, private military companies, contemporary warfare, international law, and peacebuilding. The course also explores hybrid threats, cybersecurity, disinformation, energy security, and the increasing role of artificial intelligence in shaping modern security environments.
Terrorism Research Center
Founded in 2006, the Terrorism Research Center is a research unit within Civitas University and is one of the leading think-tanks in Poland. The main fields of activity include scientific research, analytical undertakings as well as education and raising awareness about security issues in society. Center research focuses on the wide range of issues of international terrorism and its combating, as well as on the impact of those phenomena on the functioning of the state and its citizens, both in the public and private sectors. The Center’s interests include, but are not limited to: defining terrorist threats, evolution of modern terrorism, psychology of terrorism, tools to fight terrorism, risk assessment and analysis, issues related to mass media. While working on your own supervised research project, you will conduct research and analysis, interview experts, attend events and meetings organized by TRC, and contribute, along with other interns and experts, a research paper for publication.