Why wargaming? If you want to address a wicked problem, game it out. Wargaming can provide a systematic method for organizing and analyzing scenarios where individual actors or teams of actors make independent decisions using a variety of scientific and political inputs. As opposed to modeling or simulations, wargaming emphasizes human behavior and decision-making, and can yield insights and check key assumptions and premises. Dr. Chalecki will talk about her development of a climate security wargame for NATO, what role gaming plays in strategic foresight, and recruit gamers to beta test her project. Game on!
About the Speaker
Elizabeth L. Chalecki is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Nebraska Omaha and a Technology Governance Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs for Spring 2026.
Her expertise lies in the areas of climate change and security, international environmental policy, and the intersection of science/technology and IR. Dr. Chalecki has written groundbreaking works on ecological realism, climate geoengineering technology and security, climate and just war theory, and environmental terrorism. She also serves as a climate security subject matter expert for NATO, and an official Mad Scientist for the U.S. Army.
She was a Visiting Mellon Scholar for Environmental Studies at Goucher College, and has taught at Boston College, Cal State Hayward and the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and worked for the Pacific Institute, Environment Canada, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Brookings Institution. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, and an M.Sc. in Environmental Geography from the University of Toronto.
