Commander Johannes Riber

Commander Johannes Riber is a career officer in the Royal Danish Navy with more than 30 years of service, including the past ten at the Royal Danish Defence College. From 2015 to 2021, he served as Deputy Director at the Institute for Strategy.

In 2021, he was admitted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Copenhagen, His doctoral research explores why Denmark, as a small state, chose to invest in frigate construction during the 1990s—despite the platform having been widely regarded as obsolete less than a decade earlier. His work offers a nuanced understanding of small-state naval strategy and defense procurement.

In addition to his academic pursuits, Commander Riber has extensive operational experience and has deployed on multiple international missions. Most recently, in 2022, he served as an advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Defence as part of NATO Mission Iraq (NMI).

He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.