Megi Benia

Ms. Megi Benia is a former Georgian diplomat and security and foreign policy professional specializing in Russia’s influence operations, NATO’s collective defense posture, international cybersecurity, resilience, and transatlantic affairs. She currently serves as a Contributing Editor of New Eastern Europe. At the same time, Megi is a Project Coordinator at South-East Europe and Black Sea Region Programme of the Platform for Peace and Humanity and Associate Fellow at the University of Georgia’s Security, Policy and Nationalism Research Center (UGSPN). She is also a member of the EU CyberNet Expert Pool and a PhD candidate with a dissertation titled Cybersecurity in NATO’s Strategic Doctrine: Applicability of Collective Defense to Cyberspace.

As a researcher and public commentator, Ms. Benia analyses Russia’s evolving hybrid toolkit, U.S.-Russia strategic competition, and European security. She contributes to international policy discussions through op-eds, research papers, expert commentary, conference moderation, and media engagement. She is also active in academia and professional education, currently lecturing at Caucasus University, and previously teaching at the University of Georgia. She has authored multiple publications on Euro-Atlantic security, cyber diplomacy, resilience, disinformation, NATO’s strategic adaptation, and arms control.