In conversation with Shashank Joshi

In conversation with Shashank Joshi

Fireside Chat with Duncan Hill

Discussing African Development

Former Ambassador Jonathan R. Cohen

A discussion on the interaction between diplomacy and UK law.

Ten values across two decades in public and private sections. Lessons for a successful International Relations Career. With the Oxford International Relations Society, the Oxford Arab Society, and the Oxford Institute.

A fireside chat with Lord William Hague.

A fireside chat with Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK Ambassador to the United States of America.

A discussion with Jules Chappell OBE, Britain’s Youngest Ambassador.

Professor Fabre is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College. She is a world-class contemporary political philosopher, whose work has focused on politics, the ethics of war, bioethics, and theories of justice. She is the author of several works, including ‘Economic Statecraft: Human Rights, Sanctions, and Conditionality.’

This discussion developed a case study of Central Asia and the Caucasus to examine how various actors might adapt to and exploit new technologies. Our incredible panellists included Dr. Anatoly Motken (Founder & President of StrategEast, a think tank working to develop Eurasia’s digital infrastructure), Fletcher Pasque (a business development executive at SBC) and Dr. Corneliu Bjola (a world-leading academic of digital diplomacy at Oxford’s Department of International Development).

Dr. Copsey has extensive diplomatic experience as the former Head of Future of Europe Department in the UK Foreign Office and will be starting his diplomatic posting as His Majesty’s Ambassador to Bulgaria this August 2024. Dr. Copsey has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Helsinki, MGIMO in Moscow and Sciences-Po (Lille and Rennes). Dr. Copsey holds a BA (Hons) in Modern History from the University of Oxford, a Masters from the College of Europe and a DPhil from the University of Sussex.

In collaboration with Oxford Speaks.

Speakers:

Andrew Francis: the FCDO’s Head of Climate Diplomacy- a role that includes overseeing all climate diplomatic strategy, running HMG’s global climate attaché network, and leading FCDO planning for the last COP Summits. Immediately prior to this, Andrew was the FCDO’s Head of Communications for Europe & Central Asia, overseeing the department’s communications across the region. This included leading the department’s global Brexit communications. After graduating from the London School of Economics with a masters in the History of International Relations, he began his career in communications for the UN Refugee Agency during the Arab Spring. He joined the UK Government in 2012, firstly as a Policy Advisor developing the Government’s new digital strategy, then moving to the Prime Minister’s Office & Cabinet Office as a Senior Media Advisor. In this role he planned communications for various major events, including multiple Queen’s Speeches and the birth of the royal baby. Andrew was also Official Spokesperson for the official inquiry into the Iraq War, successfully overseeing global media for publication of the 2.5 million word report. He has advised a number of governments around the world on their strategic communications planning and implementation.

Professor Benito Müller: Managing Director of Oxford Climate Policy (a not-for-profit company aimed at capacity building for developing country climate change negotiators), and Director of the European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi), an international initiative for sustained capacity building in support of international climate change negotiations. He has been serving as Adviser to the LDC Group Chair (2011-12) and the Africa Group Chair (2012-13). He participated in the deliberation of the Transitional Committee (TC) for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as Adviser to the LDC TC members, who he has also been advising on the GCF Board and the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance. Professor Müller received his doctorate (D. Phil.) in Philosophy from the University of Oxford and was formerly a Research Fellow at Wolfson College and a Lecturer in Logic at the Queen’s College, Oxford. He has a Diploma in Mathematics from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland.

Kaya Axelsson: research fellow and Head of Policy and Partnership at Oxford Net Zero where she leads a team to translate research into resources, policy, and standards for defining and achievements net zero. After years working as a community organiser, Kaya moved to Oxford to work on connecting climate action communities internationally. She has earned distinction for research on politically unlikely renewable energy coalitions. Her current research and engagement focus is on the emerging net zero governance and regulatory landscape. Kaya has served as a strategic advisor to the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign and as a technical author on the International Standard Organisation’s Net Zero Guidelines. With 15 years of experience in social and environmental sustainability, she convenes and works regularly with organisations and policy leaders on their net zero strategies.

A panel of specialists from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) discussed their work as an advisory capacity with governments and NGOs worldwide!

The TBI was founded in 2016 with the intention of restoring the Blairite middle way in global politics, fighting populism and extremism, and focusing on peace initiatives and state-building in areas of endemic violence, particularly in the Middle East.

Panelists:

Stephanie Jackson, a Senior Manager, Strategy & Operations within the TBI Government Advisory practice, supporting a global portfolio of 200+ projects across 40+ countries. Stephanie previously worked for McKinsey & Company, focused on digital transformation and enterprise agility in the public sector, and was seconded to McKinsey’s “Generation” charity as Director of Programmes. Before that, she was based in Beijing, China, for 4 years working for the British Council on UK-China education programmes; and Managua, Nicaragua, managing social projects for a cultural centre.

Ruby Osman, a Policy Advisor at TBI where she leads the institute’s China work. Ruby has appeared on the BBC and written for TIME, Newsweek and the South China Morning Post on China’s foreign and domestic policy, and previously co-founded the Oxford Silk Road Society think-tank.

Matt Andersen, an Analyst at the TBI working in the institute’s Research & Data unit. Alongside this, he is completing a DPhil in History at Brasenose College, where he is writing a thesis on the reinvention of liberalism in Britain and America during the Cold War. He currently serves as the editor of the Oxford Centre for Intellectual History and his work sits at the intersection of intellectual history and public policy.

Olivia Louisy, a Recruitment Manager at TBI where she recruits experienced hires globally across Policy and Politics, Partnerships and Advisory. In addition, supporting the Senior Recruitment and Outreach Manager with Early Careers (Associate Internship programmes) and outreach to universities.

The Right Honourable Baroness Catherine Ashton served as the European Union's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy from 2009 to 2014. She earned wide praise as a negotiator, leading the P5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear program and galvanizing agreement between Serbia and Kosovo. Previously, Baroness Ashton served as the first woman Commissioner for Trade in the European Commission and the first woman British European Commissioner. A Life Peer in the British House of Lords, she is a former nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, among other accolades. She served as a Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center in 2017.

Dialogues between students and senior policing and intelligence officials on collaborative justice and the Diplomacy of extradition treaties.

With:

Mark Goldring: director of Asylum Welcome, a local charity that works with asylum seekers and refugees who do make it to the U.K. . He was previously CEO of OXFAM, and in roles for UNDP, DFID and VSO has lived and worked in many of the countries from which refugees come or seek sanctuary.

Alexander Betts: serves as the University's Local and Global Engagement Officer, and Chair of the University's Sport Strategy Committee. His research focuses on refugees' access to socio-economic opportunities, and he has undertaken research across Africa and Europe. He has published 12 books, around 100 scholarly publications, and won several academic prizes, including from the International Studies Association and American Political Science Association for his scholarship, and the ESRC's Outstanding International Impact Prize. He has been named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world's top-100 global thinkers, by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, by Friends of Europe as a European Young Leader under-40, and by Thinkers50 on their radar list of emerging business influencers. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Guardian, and his TED talks have been viewed by over 3 million people. He has previously served as the Director the Refugee Studies Centre, Associate Head of the Social Sciences Division, and is co-founder of the Oxford SDG Impact Lab and the Refugee-Led Research Hub in Nairobi. He was previously the World Masters and European Universities debating champion.

Loren Landau: Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Oxford and Research Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Centre for Migration & Society. His interdisciplinary scholarship explores mobility, multi-scale governance, and the transformation of socio-political community across the global south. Publications include, Forging African Communities: Mobility, Integration, and Belonging (Palgrave); I Want to Go Home Forever: Stories of Becoming and Belonging in South Africa’s Great Metropolis (Wits Press); Contemporary Migration to South Africa (World Bank); The Humanitarian Hangover: Displacement, Aid, and Transformation in Western Tanzania (Wits Press); and Exorcising the Demons Within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa (UN University Press/Wits Press). He has consulted with the European Union, the World Bank, UNDP, UNHCR, UNECA, the Cities Alliance, and others. As chair of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (2004-2012) he served on the South African Immigration Advisory Board. He is now a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He holds an MSc in Development Studies (LSE) and a PhD in Political Science (Berkeley). Together with Jean Pierre Misago, he co-founded and co-directs the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab (MGL).

Emma Walker-Silverman: doctoral researcher affiliated with the Refugee Studies Centre. She is broadly interested in intergroup relations and the forces that shape them, and specifically why different people and communities respond so differently to hosting refugees. Her doctoral research uses qualitative and experimental methods to examine the influence of social media on attitudes towards Syrian refugees in Turkey. She holds an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in Psychology from Stanford University, both with distinction. Before coming to Oxford, she worked as a Fulbright researcher and coordinator with local NGOs in Turkey. Alongside research, she is a warden at Lincoln College, plays ice hockey for the Oxford Blues and is an editor of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration.

With:

H. E. Piotr Wilczek, Polish Ambassador to the United Kingdom: Professor Piotr Wilczek has been the Polish Ambassador to the Court of St James's in London since February 2022. Previously, from 2016 to 2021, he served as the Polish Ambassador to the United States, where he notably strengthened transatlantic relations in defence, energy, and trade. For these achievements, he received the Amicus Oeconomiae Prize in 2020. Before his diplomatic career, Wilczek was a tenured professor at the University of Warsaw and held leadership roles at the University of Silesia. He has been a visiting professor and guest speaker at top world universities, including Oxford, Harvard, and the University of Chicago, and participated in prestigious international conferences such as the Aspen Security Forum. He is an author of numerous books and journal articles in fields such as literary studies, early modern intellectual history, religious studies, translation studies, and rhetoric. In 2017, Cleveland State University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. He has been pivotal in fostering international collaborations, representing entities like Refo500 and the Kościuszko Foundation in Poland.

Born in Chorzów, Poland in 1962, Wilczek earned advanced degrees from the University of Silesia and pursued further studies at University of Oxford and the University of London's Warburg Institute. He has been Professor of the Humanities since 2006.

H. E. Yannis Tsaousis, Greek Ambassador to the United Kingdom: Yannis Tsaousis was appointed Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the Court of St James’s in March 2023. Previously Ambassador Tsaousis was the Director of the Diplomatic Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2023.

Since joining the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997, he has served in a wide range of Diplomatic Service roles in Athens and abroad, including service in the Permanent Representation of Greece to NATO in Brussels (1999-2003), in Cyprus (2003-2007), South Africa (2009-2012) and in the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN and other Organisations in Geneva (2012-2016).

Ambassador Tsaousis holds a Bachelor in Law from the University of Athens and postgraduate degrees from the University of Kent (LLM), the University of Paris I- Sorbonne (D.E.A.) and the University of Oxford (MSt) in the fields of Public International Law and International Organisations.

Lord Peter spent 40 years as a member of the Diplomatic Service. His final post was Ambassador in Paris (2012-16). Before that he was the UK’s first National Security Adviser (2010-12), and in that role was the coordinator of the 2010 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review. He was Permanent Under Secretary at the FCO and Head of the Diplomatic Service (2006-10). He spent much of his career working on politico-military issues and crisis management, including spells as the FCO Political Director (2001-3) and Permanent Representative to NATO (2003-6). He holds Honorary Degrees from the Universities of London, Kent and Bath and is an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College Oxford.

“Israeli policy over the last 2 decades”- in collaboration with Oxford Speaks.

Sir Mark Sedwill was Cabinet Secretary from April 2018 to September 2020 and National Security Advisor from April 2017 to September 2020. Prior to this, Mark was the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office (2013-17), FCO Political Director (2012-13), NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan (2010-11), HM Ambassador to Afghanistan (2009-10) and Director of UKvisas (2006-8). He joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1989, serving in Egypt, Iraq, Cyprus and Pakistan.

Mark was educated at the University of St Andrews and the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and President of the Special Forces Club.