CINSEDAT, a research centre on Security, Rule of Law and High Technologies promoted by the Nebrija University, is born

Nebrija University has created the Nebrija Research Centre on Security, Rule of Law and High Technologies (CINSEDAT) with the intention of "deepening and trying to respond to the great challenges that have arisen in international, European and Spanish society in two highly relevant thematic areas: Security and Rule of Law, as well as the influence that High Technologies exert on them", explains its director, Carlos Espaliú Berdud.

The new centre also aspires to deepen the research work carried out until now by the SEGERICO research group and to collaborate with other international centres, companies and other public or private actors in the security and technology sectors. "We have already contacted the University of Coventry and they found the proposal very interesting," shares the professor of International Public and European Union Law.

We are living in the midst of a new international geopolitical restructuring. The escalation of tension in Europe caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the problem of European energy dependence, hybrid warfare, the use of cybernetic technology for disinformation, artificial intelligence and the growing militarisation of space are just the tip of the spear of a new era in which concepts such as security and the rule of law are becoming the subject of new research. "Issues such as artificial intelligence applied to robot soldiers, drones, autonomous ships, for example. In the event of an accident, whose responsibility is it? These are legal questions that are influenced by the high-tech factor, and we need to answer them".

Espaliú defends the need for a centre such as the newborn CINSEDAT, not only because of the issues related to high technology, but also because of the current situation of European democracies and the rule of law. "It is at a somewhat critical moment with the sanction procedure that the EU is considering against two of its states, Poland and Hungary, for a possible violation of all the values of Article II of the Treaty on European Union".

CINSEDAT starts with an initial team of Nebrija researchers, including professors Gracia Abad Quintanal and Sonia Boulos, as well as a group of professors from other Spanish and foreign universities. The centre also associates two young researchers in training, who are working on their doctoral thesis in the Nebrija University programme in Security and Risk and Conflict Analysis. 

Their lines of research include, among others, risk, security and conflict analysis; the war in Ukraine and its implications for the international order; NATO and its new rebirth at the current juncture after the invasion of Ukraine, the transformation of security; the European Union, humanitarian law and conflict management and peacebuilding.