Dates

The NISA Winter Session will be held on January 29 – February 04, 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. January 29 and February 04 are the dates of arrival and departure. Participants will be accommodated and meals will be provided.

Recently we have been experienceing some problems with our domain "nisa.az". We strogly recomend to everybody, even those who already applied, to send (resend) application forms to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Previous sessions

1. July, 2003- NATO Summer School “ Leaders of the 21st century”;
2. July, 2004- NATO Summer School on “ Changing NATO in the changing World”;
3. June, 2005 - NATO International School of Azerbaijan (NISA) Summer Session on “The Concept of Three Seas- Caspian, Black and Mediterranean”;
4. December, 2005-Jan 2006- NISA Winter Session on “Energy security in the Euro-Atlantic area”;
5. July ,2006-NISA Summer Session on “Perspectives of Euro-Atlantic integration in the region of Three Seas”;
6. December, 2006 - NISA Winter session on “Enhancing the security in the area of Three Seas: how to build a comprehensive approach”
7. July, 2007 -NISA Summer session on “Energy Security and Critical Infrastructure
Protection in the Euro-Atlantic Area”;
8. December, 2007- NISA Winter Session on “Peace operations in the Euro-Atlantic area:
Challenges and perspectives”
9. June, 2008- NISA Summer Session on “Crisis Management”
10. January, 2009- NISA Winter Session on “New Warfare and Modern Conflicts”
11. July, 2009 – NISA Summer Session on “Maritime Security”
12. January 2010 – NISA Winter Session on “Cyber Security”
13. July 2010 – NISA Summer Session on “Financial Security”
14. January 2011 – NISA Winter Session “New Strategic Concept: Perceptions and Challenges”
15. July 2011 – NISA Summer Session “The Middle East Puzzle: Security and Democracy”
Footage from our previous session



Concept of the event

Sudden and unexpected events which came in, almost a year ago in the Middle East, certainly took the international community by surprise. Arab spring, which started as a civil disobedience act in Tunisia, latter on passed to neighboring states, growing and transforming into a much more large scale standoff, demanding the resign of long ruling political regimes. The level of confrontations and tensions made the passive observer position for International Community impossible. The direct involvement of such organizations as: UN, NATO, League of Arab States, as well as major regional and international states increased the political significance of these events, enchaining global attention and making it especially peculiar case for political analysts and researchers.

Considering the level of interest among young researchers associated with NISA, our organization had dedicated its last Summer Session to above mentioned developments, entitling it “The Middle East Puzzle: Security and Democracy”. During this event NISA experts and participants had tried to analyze and understand the roots and causes of the uprisings, the political structure and background in countries going through turmoil, the role of social media in coordination of the uprisings and response of western world and regional countries to the events. Although, the session was much more than successful, it is hard to ignore the ongoing and rapidly developing nature of the events and uprisings; hence no way is it possible to underestimate its still preserving actuality.

Once more, return to already discussed topic is strongly motivated due to the still developing nature of the events; with changing scenarios, results and involvement of new actors – consideration of which, six month ago was rather skeptical. Still, if the first stage of the developments urged the researcher to generate a general review of the region and revolutions, the following occasions however, demands a more detailed and individual approach for each given state. These we believe, will be the main line of the upcoming session. There are also numbers of conceptual questions and issues which in post “revolution” euphoria are still remain unanswered: what will be the governance form in those states? Are those countries ready for and desire democracy promised by opposition? Who were those “opposition” leaders? What will be the role of political Islam and will it affect the relations with the west?

In this point the NATO International School of Azerbaijan (NISA) is proving to be the meeting ground for participants from different parts of the world. NISA- as an organization aiming to create effective public awareness and launching debate about the Euro- Atlantic security understanding is going to concentrate upon the ongoing Middle East issues, with the participation of nationals of NATO member states, Partnership for Peace countries, Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative countries as they will work together to discuss and improve the perceptions of the Middle East problems, share their knowledge and experience and improve their understanding of the problem.



NISA Winter Session will be rich in program with plenary sessions, working groups, round table and simulation game as well as site visits. Topical issues related to the subjects of the session will be discussed within plenary sessions, seminars and working groups with the invited distinguished experts and governmental officials.

The Winter Session will consist of the social program, including the intercultural evening. Participants are kindly asked to contribute to this evening with their traditional clothes, music, dances, drinks and sweets.



Participants’ Profile

Participants should be young researchers, experts, NGO or Government representatives as well as academicians dealing with the issues of international security, foreign policy, regional conflicts and other related subjects.

NISA makes preference for participants who have already obtained their MA degrees or are in the process of MA or PhD researches.

Participants must be fluent in English, under the age of 35 and Nationals of NATO member states, Partnership for Peace countries, Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative countries.

Please note that you can participate only once in NISA Sessions.

Participants who complete the session successfully will receive relevant diplomas, certified by the NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

Financial procedures

NISA will provide scholarships to cover the expenses on accommodation, meals, local transportation and social programs during the event dates. NISA welcomes the self-coverage of the travel costs by participants. Nevertheless, limited funds are also available to provide reimbursement of the travel expenses up to 50% of some qualified participants.

There is no participation fee. Financial assistance requests for travel expenses will be considered individually. The request for the most economic travel expenses subsidization should be mentioned in the Application Form by indicating the details of transportation reservation and price.


Application procedures

Application must include the Application Form, detailed CV with photo and topical essay about 400 words related to the subjects of the session. The paper should reflect applicant's own writing and thinking and be sent to the following e-mail address: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (recently we have been experienceing some problems with our domain "nisa.az". We strogly recomend to everybody, even those who already applied, to send (resend) application forms to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) with the subject line NAME SURNAME/ COUNTRY/ NISA WS 2011 (e.g. PATRICK IVOR / BELGIUM / NISA WS 2012), as appropriate. Incomplete applications (missing photo, incomplete application form, missing essay, CV) will not be accepted for selection. The deadline for the application submission is ) January 6, 2012. Only short listed candidates will be notified on January 14, 2012.