Security and Geopolitics
Joshua Stone is a former Senior Program Coordinator, Indo-Pacific Program at GMF.
Niklas Ebert is a program manager with GMF’s Transatlantic Security program. Based in Berlin, he works mainly on issues of deterrence and resilience as well as German security and defense policy.
Prior to joining GMF, Ebert worked as a research assistant at the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Defence and Military Analysis Programme in Berlin. Previously, he worked for the German Federal Foreign Office focusing on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. He gained additional experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers and the German Council on Foreign Relations.
Ebert received a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and sciences from Maastricht University and holds a master’s degree in war and conflict studies from the University of Potsdam.
Sophie Arts leads GMF’s research and programming on Arctic security and geopolitics, and on North American and Nordic defense against conventional and hybrid threats. As a Washington, DC-based fellow within the Transatlantic Security program, she also works on North American continental and US homeland defense, allied cooperation in NATO and other formats, and Russian and Chinese strategic objectives and activities in the Arctic and adjacent theaters.
Arts joined GMF’s security and defense policy team in 2017. Previously, she worked at the Atlantic Council, GMF Brussels, Spiegel Online International, and Kantar Media. Her prior research covered NATO’s partnerships and flexible formats, the impact of emerging technologies on allied defense and deterrence, the dynamics of escalation within the cyber domain, and strategic stability in a multipolar world.
Her writings and commentaries are featured regularly in defense publications and international media. She is a member of The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats’ pool of experts. In 2025, she served as co-chair of the task force for global peace and security for the Think7, the official G7 group that brings together the world’s leading think tanks and research centers.
Arts holds a master’s degree from Humboldt University in Berlin and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Freiburg.
Marta Prochwicz-Jazowska is a former Program Manager at GMF.
Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı is the managing director of GMF South and Wider Europe and the regional director for Türkiye. Prior to joining GMF, he was the manager of the Resource Development Department of the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. Previously, Ünlühisarcıklı served as director of the ARI Movement, a Turkish NGO promoting participatory democracy, and as a consultant at AB Consulting and Investment Services.
Ünlühisarcıklı is an expert on transatlantic relations and Turkish foreign policy, domestic politics, democratization, and civil society. He is quoted frequently in international media including The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Deutsche Welle, and the BBC.
After graduating from the Robert College (Istanbul), Ünlühisarcıklı received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Marmara University and his master's degree from Koç University. He speaks fluent English in addition to his native Turkish.
Emiliano Alessandri is a visiting senior fellow at GMF. He is also a senior adviser with the Agency for Peace Building and an associate fellow with the Middle East Institute. His expertise is in the field of international security and multilateral cooperation with a particular focus on transatlantic relations, European affairs, and the Mediterranean/Middle East North Africa.
Alessandri was a resident senior transatlantic fellow with GMF between 2010 and 2013, working primarily on Mediterranean affairs and Türkiye. He subsequently served three successive secretary generals of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as a senior officer between 2013 and 2023. He also held positions with the International Center for Migration Policy Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Institute of International Affairs of Rome, and taught at the College of Europe and Central European University.
Alessandri holds a PhD in international history from the University of Cambridge and a master’s degree in international economics and US foreign policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Kristine Berzina is a former Senior Fellow, US Defense and Transatlantic Security at GMF.