In recent years, Europe has faced the challenge of a “balance of power” in a very dynamic way, combining political, military, economic, transport and energy aspects. On the one hand, the presence of NATO and the EU in Eastern Europe has changed the geo-strategic orientation of the Euro-Atlantic community; on the other, the region has traditionally been a crossroad between Europe and Asia. The aggression of the Russian Federation against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine brought the debate on defense and collective security into qualitatively changed conceptual categories based on a 360-degree approach and building sustainable and resilient societies.

Nowadays, three major challenges characterize the security environment – the vast disparity in military capabilities and the military balances of power, the hybrid threats and the future of new energy and transport corridors linking the Caspian and European markets. There is a disturbed “balance of power” in the modern security environment in the wider Black Sea region, accompanied by processes of competition, regrouping, reallocation of forces and resources, formation of new strategic alliances and areas of influence in the region. We accept these challenges mainly in three geo-strategic vectors: Black Sea-Baltic Sea as north-eastern flanks of NATO, the Black Sea-Caspian Sea as transport and energy corridors; and Black Sea-Eastern Mediterranean Sea with regard to a variety of military and non-military risks and threats.

The European Union is the world’s leading maritime power, especially with regard to maritime transport, shipbuilding technologies, coastal tourism, marine energy, including renewable energies and associated services. Namely EU adopted the Blue growth policy where the stress is on the growth opportunities of the maritime regions. The EU strives with the IMO and other international organizations for universal use and the imposition of high standards of safety, environmental protection, working conditions and the elimination of terrorism and piracy. Following targeted transport policy in the European Union is crucial for the development of transport and the state of the economy in the community as a whole. It helps to strengthen and improve economic ties between countries.

The Black Sea Security Conference will bring together academic and scientific experts, representatives from the central and local administrations, the state and non-state maritime authorities, shipping companies and national and international non-governmental organizations in the shipping, transport and maritime sphere with the aim to discuss and analyze current maritime policies, challenges and opportunities for military-political, economic and socio-economic development in the wider Black Sea Region.

Facing the new challenges that emerge from dynamic changes in regional security environments require adequate assessment and analysis for better understanding the processes, for the development of sustainable and interconnected economic and transport growth for the region and for Europe. The Conference will provide a forum for presenting and exchanging scientific research, policy strategies and “way-ahead” ideas and thoughts of highly qualified experts from the Black Sea Region, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Euro-Atlantic community in various aspects of maritime security.

The Conference is meant to be an interactive forum for enhancing professional dialogue and cooperation among maritime affairs experts in the field of security and policy.

Papers should be written in English and in accordance with the instructions to authors in template. Single author may participate in up to two papers, irrespectively of number of co-authors per paper. Conference Proceedings will be published at Maritime Scientific Forum Journal. It is peer-reviewed open-access journal. We would like to invite experts to join us as reviewers by contacting via e-mail address: conference@nvna.eu

Abstracts should be text-only up to 250 words long, and should be written in English language. Immediately after abstract, please provide at least 4 keywords. Abstracts should be submitted using our point of contact until . The authors will be informed about acceptance in due time after receiving the abstract.

Submission Details:

• The abstract submission deadline is 02.02.2026
•  E-mail – conference@nvna.eu 

Articles should be text-only up to 4,000 words long and submitted in English via our point of contact, using the template, no later than 02.03.2026. Abstracts and full papers will have international review and similarity check. A short time window will be given to authors to make some adjustments and to submit the final version of the papers. Accepted article will be published in the conference proceedings.

Submission Details:

• The full paper submission deadline is 02.03.2026
•  E-mail – conference@nvna.eu

Presentation should be given in English and oral presentation should be in English language as well.

Conference attendance: 

BLACK SEA SECURITY CONFERENCE is planned to be conducted in Varna, Bulgaria in the premises of Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy. The initial conference program is presented at the web page and the final conference program will be issued shortly after the registration deadline.

We are pleased to welcome attendees without submitted papers to participate in the conference as listeners. Registration for non-presenting participants will remain open until  via the Registration Form