Providing a Forum for Analysis & Dialogue on Critical Global Issues Fostering Educational & Professional Networks Among the St. Edward’s University Community, Austin & the World

The Kozmetsky Center is delighted to feature our first lecture event for the 2021 academic year with internationally-renowned economics professor and global leader on sustainable development, Dr. Phoebe Koundouri of the School of Economics at Athens University of Economics and Business on Tuesday September 28 at 10:00 AM (Central Time).   Professor Koundouri is widely recognized for innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems research and policy approaches supporting the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. Dr. Koundouri is the Founder and Scientific Director of the Research Laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability (ReSEES) at Athens University of Economics and Business devoted to interdisciplinary research on socio-economic and environmental systems. She is also Affiliated Professor at the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center where she founded and directs the Sustainable Development Unit and the EIT Climate-KIC Hub Greece of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the latter focusing on accelerating technological and social innovations for use in the transition to a climate neutral economy. She serves as co-Chair of United Nations Sustainable Development Network (UN SDSN) -Europe, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy (ICRE8) and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forest Institute. Professor Koundouri is one of the Commissioners for the Lancet Commission on COVID-19 for which she co-chairs the "Jobs-based Green Recovery” Task Force. Dr. Koundouri leads the UN SDSN Senior Working Group on "Transformation Pathways for the implementation of EGD and the SDGs", co-leads the UN SDSN Sustainable Shipping and Ports and Shipping Initiative, and the UN SDSN 4-seas (Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Aral Seas) Blue Growth Initiative. She serves as a scientific advisor to the European Commission, World Bank, European Investment Bank, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, World Health Organization, OECD, UN and NATO. Since 1997, Dr. Koundouri has coordinated more than 100 interdisciplinary research projects, on all five continents, focused on combinations of Sustainable Development, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Behavioral Economics and Econometrics, Economics of Wellbeing and Happiness, Natural Resource-Food-Energy Nexus, Smart Water Systems, Ecosystem Services Valuation, Blue Growth, Circular Economy, Systems Innovation, Innovation Acceleration and Commercialization.  Professor Koundouri and her interdisciplinary team (more than 200 researchers) have produced research and policy results that contribute to accelerating innovation for the enablement of Sustainable Development and shaping European and national policies.  Prior to joining the Athens University of Economics and Business, Professor Koundouri held academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading and London School of Economics. She holds a PhD and MPhil in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Cambridge (UK).  Registration for the ZOOM Webinar “The Urgency for Advancing Global Sustainable Development” is available at https://stedwards.zoom.us/s/93300301262

The Kozmetsky Center will host the seventh conference in our annual “Transatlantic Security Seminar” on the topic “NATO, Russia, China and Global Security” in cooperation with the Center for European Studies and Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas, Austin funded with support of a grant by the United States Department of Education Title VI National Resource Program on Monday-Tuesday November 15-16.  We are pleased to partner with the NATO Public Diplomacy Division for the seventh annual session in our series.  This international conference to be hosted via ZOOM Webinar from our campus will bring together academic experts and representatives of the policy community to discuss implications of shifting global relationships and world order for transatlantic and broader global security.   Among major topics, speakers will be asked to address the impact of COVID19 to include discussion of political systems, values and responsiveness to the pandemic, impact of the withdrawal from the twenty -year war in Afghanistan, consequences of climate change, regional clashes and conflicts, competing visions of world order and other topics of critical relevance to transatlantic and global security.  Invited speakers include Dr. James Goldgeier Professor of International Relations and former Dean of the School of International Service at American University, Dr. Gao Fei Assistant President and Academic Dean of China Foreign Affairs University, Theresa Fallon, founder and director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies (CREAS) in Brussels, member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Dr. Jamie Shea, Professor of Strategy and Security within the Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter and former NATO Deputy Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, Dr. Nivedita Das Kundu, Foreign Policy Analyst and Senior Research Advisor, United Service Institution of India, New Delhi and former Research Fellow with the Ministry of External Affairs Think Tank Indian Council for World Affairs,(ICWA), Dr. Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Moscow, Dr. Mark Katz, George Mason University, Dr. Artyom Lukin, Russian Far Eastern University, Dr. Julian Lindley French, Senior Fellow, Institute for Statecraft in London, Director of Europa Analytica in the Netherlands, Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, Visiting Programme Director at Wilton Park and founder of The Alphen Group, Dr. Celine Pajon, Head of Japan Research at the Center for Asian Studies of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and others.  Please check our website for the full agenda later and ZOOM Webinar registration in September.

In addition, I’m pleased to be serving an elected three-year term (2021-2024) as Chair of the Geopolitics Research Committee of the International Political Science Association (IPSA).  On Monday – Tuesday November 1-2, member of our IPSA Geopolitics Executive Committee, Professor Ruben Elmiryan will host the IPSA Fourth International Workshop on Geopolitics of Small States in the 21^st Century from Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan Armenia:

https://www.ipsa.org/na/event/ipsa-rc41-fourth-international-workshop-geopolitics-small-states-21st-century   Topic areas for the session include small states in the changing world order, technology, innovation and small states and diasporas and other networks in relationships between major and small nations.  Dr. Elmiryan, Chair of World Politics and International Relations at Russian-Armenian University, Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science, Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia and former U.S. Fulbright Scholar at Princeton University (2018-2019) has extended an invitation to the St. Edward’s University faculty and student community to join the Workshop via Zoom Meeting.  Please check our website for additional information on the session later in the semester.

We are pleased to continue our initiative on Global Investment, Finance, Emerging Markets and Geopolitical Risk in cooperation with the World Affairs Council Austin. The forum seeks to provide a bridge between academic experience and the professional world of global investment, finance and geopolitical risk providing unique insights for SEU students preparing for future careers with the hope of advancing responsible and ethical participation in global business, economic development and policy.  SEU students participating in the forum session benefit from exceptional collaborative experiential learning internships and research opportunities offered by program speakers and professionals taking part in the forum.