Emma van der Wal

Emma van der Wal is a Research Associate at The Arctic Institute, where she also serves as Social Media Manager. In this role, she is responsible for editing, publishing, and monitoring content across the Institute’s social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. Her research interests focus on European security and defence, Arctic policy, and broader issues related to international security and geopolitics.

Alongside her work at The Arctic Institute, Emma has been working for over two and a half years at the Dutch Ministry of Defence, where she is currently employed as a Project Officer specializing in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

Emma holds a Master’s degree in European Studies: International Relations from Maastricht University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), which she completed in 2022. Her Master’s thesis examined Norway’s perception of the European Union’s increasing ambitions in the European Arctic since 2008. During her studies, she also completed several Russian language courses at the Maastricht University Language Centre.

In addition, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies and completed a minor in History and International Politics at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom.