Seminar of Military Sciences 2026: Call for abstracts

The National Defence University and the Finnish Society of Military Sciences will organise a Seminar of Military Sciences on 4-5 November 2026. The theme of the seminar this year is The world order is undergoing change - what should be the focus of the military sciences right now? This is an opening of discussion on topical military scientific and closely related phenomena and themes from the perspectives of research, teaching and working as an officer.

Finland’s security environment is undergoing a powerful change:  Finland has established itself as a member of the Alliance, Russia continues its war of aggression in Ukraine, and technology advances at an unprecedented speed.  We are requesting extended abstracts (3500-7000 characters including spaces and citations) that would take up topical military science research themes boldly, with an innovative approach.  We invite you to delve into artificial intelligence, hybrid warfare, climate change or changes to the population structure, for example,  and to analyse the effect of these drivers of change on military operations and strategic decision making.  How do lessons learned from previous wars help to interpret today’s wars and conflicts? How is military training being developed so that it would meet the requirements and challenges of the future? How to factor the increasingly fast-paced advancement of technology into the development of operational art?  And how will the reality of the battlefield change, if war gets prolonged or the threat of the use of nuclear weapons becomes more imminent? Your approach in the abstract may also come from outside these examples or focus on innovations in the defence industry, for example. 

In particular, we are looking for abstracts combining multi and cross disciplinary perspectives. 

Abstracts are also requested on master’s theses:  At the seminar, there will be a separate working group for master’s students.  In the working group, master’s students can present their military scientific or other security-related master’s theses and reflect on possibly being interested themselves in post-graduate studies.  Abstracts based on master’s theses are also requested to be submitted via the LYYTI link below. 

The deadline for submitting abstracts is Sunday 30 June 2026. Submit your abstract via Lyyti. Presentations based on abstracts will be discussed in working groups at the Seminar of Military Sciences in Santahamina.  The time allowed for presentations in working groups will be 20 min. + 5-10 min. for discussion.  Abstracts may be submitted and presentations delivered either in Finnish or English.

The National Defence University will publish a collection of the abstracts of the presentations in digital form after the seminar.  The seminar’s abstract collections from previous years are available in the Doria publication repository. 

Additional Information

Milla Alaraatikka
tel. +358 (0) 299 530 728
[email protected]

Hanna Lindevall
tel. +358 (0) 299 530 729
[email protected]