James Sherr is Honorary Fellow of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) in Tallinn and an Associate Fellow (and former Head) of the Chatham House Russia and Eurasia Programme. Additionally, he is an Associate of Earendel Associates and an Adjunct Fellow of the Razumkov Centre, Kyiv. Between 1993 and 2012, he was a member of the Social Studies Faculty of Oxford University, a Senior Lecturer at the Conflict Studies Research Centre of the UK Ministry of Defence (1995- 2008) and Director of Studies of the Royal United Services Institute (1983-85). The author of Hard Diplomacy and Soft Coercion (2013), he has published extensively about Russia, Ukraine and European security. For thirty years, he has advised governments in the UK, USA, NATO and EU about developments in Russia and Ukraine and worked closely with Ukraine on defence and security sector reform. He was a member of the Valdai Club between 2008 and 2018 and has spoken on six occasions at the Russian Diplomatic Academy. In February 2024, he was ‘personally sanctioned’ by the MFA RF along with 17 other British officials and experts.
The 2BS (To Be Secure) Forum is a leading politico-security forum in Southeast Europe (SEE) that has been shaping national, regional, and international security frameworks since its inception in 2011. As the flagship event of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro, it provides an exceptional and unique platform for prominent political figures, as well as international organizations representatives, academia, security experts, business leaders, renowned global think tanks, NGO experts and innovators to generate ideas and solutions to effectively tackle and overcome the prevailing global challenges pertaining to security and stability.