Security Academy 2024/2025
The Security Academy is a two-semester educational programme for selected students of master and doctoral programmes and recent graduates interested in security from the Czech Republic. The mission of the programme is to strengthen their knowledge, competencies and capacities in the areas of foreign and security policy and motivate students to worked for the benefit of the Czech Republic, whether in in public administration, international institutions or the civil sector. We identify and support talented young people to prepare them for their future careers. Our goal is to increase the number of professionals who can focus on security threats and foreign policy, thus helping to strengthen the Czech Republic's position in the Euro-Atlantic area.
A new edition of the Security Academy will be launched with an introductory seminar from 23 to 25 October 2024. The program will be designed for 10 to 15 participants who will meet with experts, undertake study tours and visits to institutions, as well as a mentoring program. We will also help participants to find an internship according to their thematic focus.
The sponsorship of the program in the academic year 2024/2025 was granted by: Vít Rakušan, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior; Jana Černochová, Secretary of Defence; Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Karel Řehka, Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic; Jiří Mazánek, Director of the National Headquarters against Organized Crime of the SKPV and National Office for Cyber and Information Security.
The Security Academy runs from October 2024 to May 2025 and consists of the following parts:
Workshops on selected foreign and security policy topics led by experienced speakers from practice and informal meetings with personalities from security institutions
Workshops presenting specific foreign and security policy topics will be held in Prague on Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings once every two weeks (please note that the programme is subject to change). Preliminary dates of the workshops:
- November 7 and 8, 2024
- November 21 and 22, 2024
- December 5 and 6, 2024
- February 27 and 28, 2025
- March 13 and 14, 2025
- March 27 and 28, 2025
- April 10 and 11, 2025
- April 24 and 25, 2025
- A multi-day program including workshops from Wednesday afternoon to Friday noon will take place on 23–25 October 2024 and 21–23 May 2025.
Mentoring Program
During November 2024, young people selected for the current year of the Safety Academy will be assigned a mentor/mentee with practical industry experience in relation to the topics they are working on. During the Security Academy, the participants will write a policy paper on one of the topics related to foreign security policy in cooperation with their mentor/mentee. Mentors work, among others, at the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, the Army of the Czech Republic, or in the non-governmental sector and will consult with the participants on their possible applications
Study trips
Two multi-day study tours will take place during the academic year 2024/2025. The exact dates and the city visited will be communicated to the selected participants in due course. Study trips to Brussels (February 2024) and Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (April 2024) took place in the academic year 2023/2024.
Possibility of an internship
In cooperation with our partners, we will help participants/participants of the Security Academy to arrange internships according to the thematic focus.
What do you get by participating in the program?
- An insight into the practical functioning of Czech and foreign security institutions, international organizations (thanks to study trips) and NGOs dealing with various topics related to foreign and security policy.
- Valuable experience and up-to-date knowledge of current security challenges in the international context.
- Significantly increased employability in the international relations and security sector, thanks to practical insight and contacts.
- The opportunity to become part of the alumni community with access to the Czech security community.
- The opportunity to develop your career in the field in cooperation with an experienced mentor/mentee with extensive experience in Czech foreign and security policy.
- Useful contacts to top experts/experts from the Czech Republic and abroad.
- The opportunity to complete an internship in a Czech security institution.
Among the speakers and mentors involved in the Security Academy in the past were:
Věra Jourová (Vice-President of the European Comission); Jan Lipavský (Minister for Foreign Affairs); Martin Dvořák, (Minister for European Affairs), Pavel Fischer (Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee); Matt Field (Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Czech Republic); Anna Azari (Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Czech Republic); Petra Dachtler (Deputy Ambassador of Germany in Prague) Karel Řehka (Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces); Miroslav Feix (Director of the MoD Capabilities Planning Section) Vladimír Posolda (Director ÚZSI); Lukáš Kintr (Director of NUKIB); Tomáš Kopečný (Government Commissioner for the Reconstruction of Ukraine); David Stulík (Special Representative for the Eastern Partnership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic); David Konecký (Senior Director of the Foreign Policy Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic); Daniel Braun (Deputy Director of the Cabinet of EC Vice-President Věra Jourová); Benedikt Vangeli (CTHH MVČR); Jan Jireš (Delegation of the Czech Republic to NATO, Ministry of Defense); and others.
Since 2020, there have already been four editions of the Security Academy, which 44 students graduated, 93% of whom are now working in Czech institutions or furthering their education at university
How do the participants themselves evaluate their participation in the Security Academy?
"The program really exceeded all my expectations in several ways. It helped me to open my eyes a bit, to clarify a lot of things within myself and last but not least to meet a lot of great people, whom I hope to continue meeting - both professionally and privately."
"Thank you for the whole Academy, it was a really beneficial experience in every way."
"I really think the Security Academy has a bright future and the potential to bring a lot of benefits to many more people in the future. It was a real privilege to be part of its first year!"
Contact details
For more information about the Security Academy, contact the Deputy Director of the Center for an Informed Society Michael Murad.
Partners
Bezpečnostní akademie probíhá díky podpoře Pale Fire Capital, Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung a Zastoupení Evropské komise v České republice. Studijní cesta do Estonska, Lotyšska a Litvy (a workshopy věnované Pobaltí) probíhají díky podpoře Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. V průběhu roku 2024 si v rámci Bezpečnostní akademie připomínáme 25. výročí členství České republiky v NATO.
