On September 25th, ICT4COP center leader Professor Ingrid Nyborg was in Vienna to deliver a presentation on ‘Post-Conflict Police Reform – Lessons Learned and Way Forward’, for the Organization for European Security Cooperation (OSCE) Security Committee meeting. Professor Nyborg was one of four main speakers, which included the Deputy Head of the International Police Cooperation Department, National Police of Ukraine, the Director for Security and Public Safety, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, and the Deputy Director, Head of the Division of Coordination and Horizontal Affairs, Civil Planning and Capabilities, European External Action Service. 

The program was a unique opportunity to learn about this 57 member state organization, which supports police reform efforts across three continents. There was a lot of interest from the delegates in our ICT4COP research, and after the meeting Ingrid met with Bjørn Tore Saltvik, Adviser on Police Development and Reform in the OSCE Secretariate, to learn more of OSCE’s work in police reform, and discuss possible areas of future collaboration. 

The project leader was invited by the Romanian Chair of the OSCE Security Committee to be part of a panel at the Security Committee Meeting on 25 September 2023, in Vienna, Austria. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how the OSCE might support police capacity-building in post-conflict police reform in ways that complement actors such at the UN and EU.

This was an excellent opportunity to inform the delegates of OSCE’s 57 participating States and 11 Partners for Cooperation of our research on post-conflict police reform. The ICT4COP presentation ‘Post-Conflict Police Reform: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward’ was made in- person, alongside online presentations by the Head of the International Police Cooperation Department, National Police of Ukraine; the Director for Security and Public Safety, OSCE Mission in Kosovo; and the Deputy Director, Head of Division of Coordination and Horizontal Affairs, Civil Planning and Capabilities, European External Action Service (EU-EEAS).

After the meeting, the ICT4COP project leader met with the Norwegian policing expert on policing projects in the OSCE Secretariat to discuss possible collaboration.

The project leader was invited to attend the Conference ‘NATO Stability Policing in Human Security’ at the NATO Stability Policing Center of Excellence (SPCoE) 19-22 June 2023, in Vicenza, Italy. The aim of the conference was to increase knowledge in NATO of the role of Stability Police in contributing to human security by addressing issues of crime and community safety in ways that require civilian policing competence.

Participants were from a wide range of NATO, European and national defense institutions, academia, and international non- governmental organizations. In addition to plenum presentations and discussions, most of the conference was comprised of groupwork discussing the role of SP in addressing human security in four areas: protection of civilians, conflict-related sexual violence, combatting trafficking in human beings, and children and armed conflict. It was in these groups that ICT4COP’s research was shared and discussed extensively.

ICT4COP’s focus on human security, and the extensive fieldwork on policing in post-conflict contexts made our research extremely interesting and relevant to participants, leading to excellent networking opportunities during the conference and our findings and recommendations were incorporated into the conference documentation. A few months after the conference (November 2023), the project leader was invited to teach at the SPCoE’s course for NATO officers on ‘Capability Training of Police in NATO Operations’, a 5- day course in Vicenza for planners, gendarme-type police and military police. This was a unique opportunity to both share our research on the challenges and key principles of civil police reform in post-conflict contexts (i.e. trust-building, community engagement, local ownership) and to gain insight into how military strategic thinking might influence the way police reform is approached in their missions. The project leader was invited back in November 2024 to teach in the course again.

Ingrid Nyborg was invited to speak at the LEPH 2023 The European Conference on Law Enforcement & Public Health in Umeå from the 21st – 24th of May 2023. The goal of the conference was to explore the complex and diverse intersections of law enforcement and public health. It brought together key stakeholders – practitioners, policymakers and academics – to discuss, find common ground, and work together on the intersection of law enforcement and public health as well as related sectors. The key theme was: “Together towards resilient communities”.

On the 23rd of May, the project leader presented on Human Security and Police Reform: How women and men’s local experiences and understandings of insecurity, vulnerability and development relate to security and development discourses, policies and programs in post-conflict (post-disaster) situations.