The 2026 Nordplus funded Small States Summer School was hosted by the Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland from 9–14 August.

Twenty students from across the Nordic-Baltic region came together in Reykjavík for an intensive week of lectures, discussions, and visits, focusing on the role of small states and the security challenges facing the North Atlantic.

In addition to lectures delivered by professors from each partner institution, participants had the opportunity to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Parliament (Althingi), as well as the NATO Security Base in Keflavík.

The 2026 summer school marked the third year of a three-year Nordplus grant. We thank the dedicated group of students who joined us this year. The summer school's collaboration with Nordplus will continue next year and we look forward to welcoming a new cohort of students to Reykjavík in August of 2027!

About the course
The security environment in the North Atlantic has taken a dramatic shift in recent years, affecting the scope of small state policy and security matters in the region. With Russia‘s full scale invasion into Ukraine, support for NATO has increased and now with Finland‘s and Sweden's accession to the Alliance, the Nordic-Baltic region, has become more integrated in the realms of security than ever before. In these troubled times, there is a greater need for training young academics and future leaders in analyzing defense and security issues. The aim of this Nordplus funded intensive course is to prepare our future experts and academics for the security challenges ahead. The objective is to provide students with advanced specific knowledge on current security challenges as well as general research skills. Research is the basis for informed decision-making and an important tool to deepen our understanding of the state of affairs and thus better deal with changes on the international scene.