On 11 May 2021, Estonia’s Ministry of Social Affairs unexpectedly announced that Covid-19 vaccinations would be opened to all Estonians over 16 years old – 500,000 people – in just one week’s time. Estonia’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Siim Sikkut worried that this large influx of users would crash the repurposed digital health portal. However, he did not have direct authority over the digital decisions of the social affairs ministry. What, if anything, could he do to prevent a crash?

When Jay Adan, the most senior civil servant in his state’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, discovered irregularities in the selection of candidates for posts in his ministry, he suspected the minister may have interfered for his own political gain. Should Adan compromise his values by approving a corrupt process or risk his career and the valuable work he was doing by explicitly rejecting the list?

The North Korean regime is among the most acute potential sources of global instability today, affecting and shaping complex regional dynamics in East Asia. In this 1.5-day exercise, participants conduct a crisis simulation centred around a fictional crisis scenario emerging in North Korea. Participants are divided into six teams, representing China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Each team must pursue its own national policy objectives, and each participant has a specific role within their team.