Community of Practice

Sönke Marahrens

Colonel i.G. Dipl. Inform. Sönke Marahrens, MPA is the Head of the Research Department “Strategy and Armed Forces” at the German Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies in Hamburg. The GIDS is a cooperation between the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College and the Helmut Schmidt University to promote public discourse and strategic culture in Germany.

He is a trained Air Defense Officer and held various positions including Battalion Command, Defense Planning Office and MOD. The focus of his previous posts have been in the context of innovation, concept development & experimentation of applied (military) scientific issues in the field of cyber and digitization.

In 2018 he graduated from the Canadian National Security Program with a Master in Public Administration. His current work focuses on aspects of leadership, leadership processes and leadership in the 21st century, modern forms of conflict, cyber, artificial intelligence and the military as well as the Prussian war game.