Global Negotiation Conference 2022
Hosted by the University of Zurich
6-9 July 2022
The ninth Global Negotiation Conference will take place from the 6-9 July 2022 hosted by the University of Zurich. The topic of the conference is negotiating an new outer space treaty. We are pleased to announce the following speakers will conduct workshops and presentations alongside members of the IGN team.
Tarja Kaarina Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen was President of Finland from 2000 to 2012, the first woman to hold the post. Her successful political career – she was both Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995-2000) and Minister of Justice (1990-1991) before becoming President – followed her early experience as a trade union lawyer and was characterised by her dedication to human rights and challenges related to globalisation. Ms. Halonen is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, a network of current and former women prime ministers and presidents whose primary goal is to draw on the experience of its members to support women’s full participation and representation in the political process at the highest levels.
Michael Ambühl
Michael Ambühl is a Professor Emeritus at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) where he was formerly Professor of Negotiation and Conflict Management and the Director of the Swiss School of Public Governance. Previously, Michael Ambühl spent over thirty years as a Swiss Diplomat where he served as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and State Secretary in the Finance Ministry. Throughout his career, he was a member of the “Swiss-EU Bilateral I”- negotiation team, he led the negotiations of the “Swiss-EU Bilateral II”- agreements (including Schengen), he was facilitator of the Geneva Iran-P5+1 talks, and in the Armenia-Turkey Protocols, signed in Zurich in 2009. He also negotiated the Swiss-US UBS-deal, the Tax treaty Switzerland-UK & Austria, the Swiss-US FATCA Agreement and the Swiss-US Tax deal.
Mazlan Othman
Malaysia’s first astrophysicist, Mazlan Othman has enjoyed a distinguished career in the field of space science. Mazlan twice served as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) from 1999 to 2002, and 2007 to 2013, in-between which she was the founding Director General of ANGKASA, the Malaysian National Space Agency. Mazlan studied Physics at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand where she was the first woman awarded a doctorate in the nearly 120 years since the university's founding. Dr Mazlan is a Senior Fellow of the Academy of Science Malaysia and Emeritus Professor at the National University of Malaysia.
Jean-Jacques Subrenat
Jean-Jacques Subrenat served as a French diplomat (1971-2005) and Ambassador (1995-2005). Since retiring from public service he has done volunteer work as Chair of the Advisory Board, Institut Pierre Werner, Luxembourg; Member of the Board of Directors, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers); Member of ICANN's At-Large Committee; Co-founder & first Chair, EURALO Individual Users' Association; community journalist, WikiTribune; moderator at Collegium60Plus Switzerland; Lecturer, Burgundy School of Business, Dijon, since 2020; Board member, OPAD Dijon, since 2020. In 2021, Jean-Jacques was elected as a distinguished fellow of the Institute for Global Negotiation.
Gérardine Goh Escolar
Gérardine Goh Escolar is Professor (Adjunct) at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Concurrently, she is Deputy Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, where she also heads two divisions: International Commercial, Digital and Financial Law; and Transnational Litigation. Previously in practice, Geri has acted in numerous international negotiations, and litigation and arbitration proceedings. Formerly Legal Advisor to the President of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal and principal legal officer in a Judge’s chambers at the International Court of Justice, her earlier roles include legal officer in government service, in-house counsel at a NewSpace company, and vice-president at a legaltech startup. Geri focuses on finding solutions to global transborder issues at the intersection of emerging technology (outer space, blockchain and crypto, fintech, digital and quantum communications), sustainability and social impact.
Peter Cunningham
Peter is Head of Leadership at GCSP and Co-Founder of the Geneva Leadership Alliance, a network of associates and partner organisations working together to advance the understanding and practice of leadership for the benefit of peace and security worldwide. Peter has over 20 years of experience in leadership development, adult education, and executive coaching across private, public, and non-profit sectors. He is constantly seeking new, diverse, and innovative ways to bridge the study of leadership with the practice of leading, especially at international level and across cultural, geo-graphical, political and organisational divides. Leveraging his diverse experience and background, he creates safe spaces for learning and encourages brave spaces for application, enabling people to learn leadership mindsets and practices in transformative ways and adapt them to their own work and life.
Valentina Tamburello
After a PhD in Astrophysics (University of Zurich) with several publications in renowned journals such as Nature Astronomy, Valentina decided to look for new challenges, exploring the whole Space sector. She attended the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program (International Space University) and, once back to Switzerland, she joined the core team of the UZH Space Hub, the innovation cluster for Space and Aviation of the University of Zurich. Its mission is to bring together and support students, researchers, companies, and start-ups, fostering innovation and acting as interface between university and industry. Moreover, she also works at the National Point of Contact for satellite images, a free national service under the umbrella of Space Exchange Switzerland. The NPOC provides scientific solutions and technical support to every Swiss entity (non-commercial, governmental or private) interested in using satellite data.
Eemeli Isoaho
Eemeli Isoaho serves as Program Coordinator for the Master of Advanced Studies ETH Mediation in Peace Processes (MAS ETH MPP) program at ETH Zurich. In that role, Eemeli is responsible for the development and management of the program, including its curriculum, administration, and strategic partnerships. Eemeli previously worked as Programme Management Officer at CMI, a peace mediation organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate President Martti Ahtisaari. At CMI, Eemeli specialized in the provision of mediation support to African regional and sub-regional organizations as well as the establishment of track 1-1.5 mediation and dialogue initiatives in several countries in East, West, and Central Africa.