Dr. Deniz Yüksel-Beten graduated from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Belgium. Dr. Yüksel-Beten joined NATO’s Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division in January 1991 as Programme Director of the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS), dealing with the management of projects, mainly in the field of Environmental Security. Following the merger of the CCMS and the Science Committee in 2006, she became Head of the Section Science for Peace and Security (SPS) in the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, which was thereafter transferred to the newly established NATO Emerging Security Challenges (ESC) Division.
Since 2010, Dr. Yüksel-Beten is in charge of the Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme as the Senior SPS and Partnership Cooperation Advisor, working directly with the Assistant Secretary General for the Emerging Security Challenges. The SPS Programme, one of the important partnership programmes at NATO, serves the Alliance’s Strategic Objectives by linking science to society and by developing projects to address emerging security challenges. The Programme’s Key Priorities include counter-terrorism, cyber defence, CBRN defence and security-related advanced technologies.
Dr. Yüksel-Beten has taken the lead in developing and implementing SPS key flagship projects with high visibility and public diplomacy value by bringing together networks of scientists in both NATO member and partner countries, 69 in total. Furthermore, she has managed capacity-building initiatives in order to project peace and stability beyond the Euro-Atlantic territory.