The second Global Negotiation Conference was held on the 2-4 September 2015 at the World Trade Institute/University of Bern in Bern Switzerland. Twelve teams took part in a series of workshops on negotiation as well as a negotiation simulation modelled on the talks taking place to adopt a new treaty on international responses to pandemics.

The program included a keynote address by Thomas Zeltner, Special Envoy of the World Health Organization (WHO) on WHO’s engagement with non-States actors.  academics who discussed the role of language and body language in negotiations as well as the implications of game theory in negotiation and the ongoing challenges in global health diplomacy.

Students in attendance included representatives from the University of Aarhus (Denmark), University of the Basque Country (Spain), University of Bern (Switzerland), University of Chester (United Kingdom), University of Münster (Germany), University of Sussex (United Kingdom), University of Tübingen (Germany), World Trade Institute (Switzerland), University of York (United Kingdom) and École Polytechnique Féderale de Lausanne (Switzerland).

The students came from a range of academic disciplines including law, political science, the natural sciences, philosophy and economics. This diversity in backgrounds provided a stimulating and interesting mix of people, with different perspectives and approaches to the task at hand and ideas on negotiation in general.