Dr. Alex Wilner is an Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), Director of the Infrastructure Protection and International Security (IPIS) program, and founding chair of the Collaborative Specialization in Cybersecurity, at Carleton University, Canada. He teaches graduate-level classes on terrorism and counterterrorism, intelligence studies, Canadian defence and security policy, and strategic foresight. His research explores the nexus between deterrence theory and emerging security considerations and domains.
His books include Deterrence by Denial (eds., Cambria Press, 2021), Deterring Rational Fanatics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), and Deterring Terrorism (eds., Stanford University Press, 2012). His articles have been published in top-ranked journals, including International Security, Journal of Strategic Studies, Security Studies, and Journal of Global Security Studies.
His scholarship on deterrence has been awarded nearly $2M in funding: he was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2016-2017), a SSHRC Insight Grant (2020-2025), and a Government of Ontario Early Researcher Award (2021-2026) for his cyber deterrence project; two IDEaS grants (2018-2021) and several Department of National Defence MINDS grants (2019; 2020) in support of his AI deterrence project; and a major Mitacs grant (2020-2022) and MINDS Collaborative Network grant to explore Canadian defence and emerging technology.
A former federal public servant, Prof Wilner works closely with the Government of Canada on a range of topics and issues related to cybersecurity, national defence, and counterterrorism.