Nikolas Katsimpras

Nikolas Katsimpras is a conflict analyst and strategy consultant. His work focuses on the Eastern Mediterranean and the MENA region. In recent years, his primary specialization has shifted toward the use of open-source intelligence (OSINT) in conflict analysis, with a passion for developing OSINT teams, building custom AI-powered analytical tools, and designing interactive training challenges for skills assessment and development. Nikolas has been a lecturer at Columbia University's Negotiation and Conflict Resolution program since 2014. 

A former Senior Fellow of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, Nikolas also taught for many years in the Dispute Resolution program at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is an Atlantic Council Millennium Fellow alum and has delivered keynote speeches on the intersection of conflict, technology, and education at international venues, including O’Reilly’s Velocity Conference and the Evens Foundation’s Conflict Matters conference. 

A former officer of the Hellenic Navy with extensive international experience, Nikolas has been awarded by the International Institute for Humanitarian Law and received the Dynamical Systems Theory Fellowship from Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4) for his research on peace negotiations in Burma in 2012.

Nikolas currently teaches the course NECR 5250 "AI and Open Source Research for Conflict Analysis". A brief course description is copied below:
Contemporary conflicts evolve faster than traditional research methods can keep pace. This course equips students with the practical skills needed to analyze complex, unfolding conflicts in real time by combining Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) with the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Through hands-on exercises, AI-assisted research, stakeholder mapping, narrative analysis, and a self-paced 17-level OSINT simulation, students learn how to identify hidden actors, map informal networks, and transform vast amounts of public information into actionable analysis. The course also develops highly marketable professional skills—including due diligence, AI workflow integration, AI-assisted tool development, analytical writing, storytelling, and memo production—that are increasingly sought after across diplomacy, journalism, public policy, intelligence, and the private sector. A final individualized project, designed through one-on-one mentoring with the instructor, allows each student to apply these techniques to a conflict or professional challenge aligned with their own interests and career goals. For more information, please visit necrsourcer.ai