I am professor at the Center for War Studies (University of Southern Denmark – SDU).  

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). 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. 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.

Please contact me for any other information.

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