Annelies van Vark works as a senior advisor to the Defence Staff at the Ministry of Defence, where she concentrates on the scalability of the armed forces in preparation for potential military conflict. She has been seconded (parttime) to Clingendael as Senior Research Fellow with Clingendael’s Security Unit.
Annelies recently finished her PhD at Leiden University's Van Vollenhoven Institute. Her dissertation, Separation and Immersion. The Changing Role of the Armed Forces in Northwestern Liberal Democracies, examines how military institutions in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland contribute to political stability from a civil-military relations perspective. Her research explores the role of the armed forces in society amid rising hybrid threats.
She is also an editor to Militaire Spectator, a Dutch defense journal, where she writes on topics such as total defense, societal resilience, and the integration of military and civilian preparedness strategies. Her work emphasizes the need for a “whole-of-society” approach to national security, advocating for stronger collaboration between defense institutions and civil society.
Annelies holds a master’s degree in Political Science, a bachelor’s degree in Law, and a master’s degree in Public International Law, all obtained at Leiden university.
