Alexandra Mendes, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and Jan Stockbruegger, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, are the winners of the third edition of the Atlantic Security Award. Each researcher will receive 15 thousand euros to develop their research project.

The Atlantic Security Award is an initiative resulting from a partnership between the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), the Atlantic Center and the National Defense Institute (IDN). This is the third year of awarding the prize, which will allow those selected to develop their projects over a period of eight months throughout 2024.

Winning Projects

Alexandra Mendes is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, and will develop the project “Leveraging Large Language Models Trained on Dark Web Data to Support Decision Making for Atlantic Security and Defense”.

This project foresees the development of a prototype of a software tool that intends to make use of a Large Language Model (LLM) ‘trained’ using large databases with dark web data, and policies relevant to the Atlantic. The goal is to have a model that facilitates the formulation of defense policies, strategies, and policies, and security forces operations against cybercrime, illicit trade, and other threats facilitated by the dark web in the Atlantic.

“[O prémio] will enable collaboration with various stakeholders, such as the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), the Atlantic Center and the National Defense Institute (IDN), in the development of a prototype that uses a Large Language Model (LLM), trained or fine-tuned on data from the Dark Web, and which aims to support decisions in the development of defense policies and strategies, as well as in law enforcement in the security of the Atlantic region.” – Alexandra Mendes.

The Assistant Professor at the University of Porto also says that the award is an “important milestone” in her career, which she sees as a recognition of her professional career and the value of her research proposal.

Jan Stockbruegger is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, and won the award for the project “The Environmental and Supply Chain Threat of the Global Shadow Fleet: A Risk Assessment for the Atlantic.”

This project will investigate the growth of what is known as the ‘shadow fleet’, i.e. ships used to try to circumvent sanctions imposed for violations of international law. These are the cases of Venezuela, Iran, North Korea and Russia, whose ‘dark fleet’ has been recurrently pointed out as one of the main ways it has successfully circumvented the sanctions imposed on the purchase of Russian oil, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

These are generally older ships and because they are not complying with international law, in the event of an accident, the insurance contracted is not valid. This puts countries whose seas are navigated by these ships at higher risk of suffering a potential environmental disaster, for which they may not receive any compensation or accountability.

“Shadow ships help Russia, Venezuela and other countries evade sanctions on their oil exports, but they are also a major security risk and environmental threat. These are ageing ships in poor condition, which generally do not comply with maritime safety rules and do not have adequate insurance against oil spills. These ‘shadow’ ships have already caused fatalities and oil spills” – Jan Stockbruegger

The Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen also explained that the award will allow him to make an assessment of the risks of this ghost fleet in the Atlantic region and develop recommendations for the implementation of policies aimed at strengthening maritime security cooperation in the Atlantic region.

About the award

The current international situation demonstrates how important it is to promote quality scientific research to sustain good security and defence policies in the Atlantic area. This objective makes FLAD’s commitment even more evident, taking into account the importance of the Azores archipelago, as an essential platform for security in the Atlantic, and its untapped potential, and makes the Atlantic Center and Instituto da Defesa Nacional natural partners.

The Atlantic Security Award is now in its third edition, supporting two more researchers in the field of Security and Defence in the Atlantic. The selected projects will be developed over a period of eight months throughout 2024, and are also selected for their ability to contribute to progress in knowledge on topics related to current challenges in the field of Security and Defence in the Atlantic area.

Applicants for this award must have completed their PhD, or equivalent degree, no more than 10 years ago and submit evidence of quality independent research.

Those selected were chosen by the jury composed of:

  • Ana Santos Pinto, Professor at Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa;
  • Luís Miguel Escudeiro da Costa Cabral, Atlantic Centre;
  • Maria Francisca Saraiva, resident researcher at Instituto de Defesa Nacional.