Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello - Universities as informal diplomatic actors?

IAS Visiting Fellow Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello delivers a seminar on their research - 

In today's world, 'knowledge' is key to providing the foundation for informed decision-making and creative solutions to global challenges. As universities extend their impact beyond traditional academic roles, they emerge as informal diplomatic actors, wielding their knowledge-driven initiatives to contribute to global cooperation and address shared challenges, including public health crises, climate change, and geopolitical tensions. However, very little is known about how universities achieve their diplomatic aims beyond conventional diplomacy approaches and engage in informal diplomacy through teaching and learning, research, student initiatives, and civic engagement. Within these new trends, the talk has two main aims. First, it seeks to develop a new conceptual approach to understand how higher education institutions collaborate to share and shape expert "knowledge" as informal diplomatic actors to tackle global challenges. Second, the talk will offer some empirical examples reflecting on the evolving role of universities as actors of diplomacy, considering the tensions and political challenges inherent in the current geopolitical landscape.