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2020 Agenda

The Pearson Global Forum
The Climate of Conflict
October 6-8, 2020 (A Virtual Experience)

The climate of conflict is rapidly shifting around the world. The emergence of new conflicts is outpacing the ability of the international community to cope, new rules now govern old disputes, disunity through the spread of populism is creating long-term damage, and the palpability and perils of climate conflict itself represent an increasingly tangible reality for humanity. As the international community continues to deal with dozens of active conflicts, and the quickly shifting relationships between and among nations, it is essential to find paths toward resolution, peace, and stability.

At The Pearson Institute, our mission is to convene international leaders and world-renowned academics at The Pearson Global Forum to explore rigorous research and analysis to influence solutions, strategies, and policies for reducing and mitigating conflict to achieve a more peaceful world.

Note: All times are shown in CDT. 

Welcome Remarks

James A. Robinson
Institute Director, The Pearson Institute; Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies and University Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago 

Keynote: Confronting the Climate Crisis

Alice Hill
David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment, Council on Foreign Relations  

Climate Conflict: Water

Supratik Guha
Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago; Director, Nanoscience and Technology Division and the Center for Nanoscale Materials, and Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director, Argonne National Laboratory

Amir Jina
Assistant Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago​​​​​​

Michael Tiboris
Pearson Associate; Nonresident Fellow, Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Director, Clear Water Farms Program, River Alliance of Wisconsin 

Moderator: Margaret Goud Collins
Executive Director, Friends of International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Break

Flash Talk: The End of Water as We Know It

Seth B. Darling
Director, Center for Molecular Engineering and Senior Scientist, Chemical Sciences & Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory; Fellow, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

Climate Conflict: Migration

Elizabeth Ferris
Research Professor, Institute for the Study of International Migration, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Walter Kaelin
Envoy of the Chair, Platform on Disaster Displacement

Kayly Ober
Senior Advocate and Program Manager, Climate Displacement Program, Refugees International

Moderator: Abrahm Lustgarten 
Senior Environmental Reporter, ProPublica 

 

Flash Talk: Environmental Migration, Urbanization, and Conflict Processes 

Vally Koubi 
Professor and Senior Scientist, Center for Comparative and International Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich; Professor, Institute of Economics, University of Bern 

Welcome Remarks

Katherine Baicker
Dean and Emmett Dedmon Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago 

Global Pandemics

Oeindrila Dube
Philip K. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago 

Mark Koyama
Associate Professor, Economic History, George Mason University 

Ada Palmer 
Associate Professor of Early Modern European History and the College, University of Chicago

Moderator: Katherine Baicker
Dean and Emmett Dedmon Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago 

 Break

Case Study: Haiti

Paul Farmer
Chief Strategist and Co-Founder, Partners In Health; Kolokotrones University Professor, Harvard University

Chelsey L. Kivland
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth College

Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis
President, Fondation Connaissance et Liberté-FOKAL; Former Prime Minister of Haiti 

Moderator: James A. Robinson
Institute Director, The Pearson Institute; Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies and University Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Flash Talk: How Security Transitions Fail and What to Do About It

Austin L. Wright
Pearson Faculty Affiliate; Assistant Professor, Harris School Public Policy, University of Chicago

Fireside Chat

Zalmay Khalilzad
Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, U.S. Department of State

Andrew Wilder
Vice President, Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace 

Case Study: Afghanistan

Laurel Miller
Program Director, Asia, International Crisis Group; Former Deputy and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. Department of State 

Gretchen Peters
Executive Director, Center on Illicit Networks and Transnational Organized Crime 

Michael Semple
Professor, The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University Belfast

Moderator: Andrew Wilder
Vice President, Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace

Flash Talk: Dictatorship and the Missing Students 

Maria Angélica Bautista
Pearson Faculty Affiliate; Assistant Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago 

Welcome Remarks

Ka Yee C. Lee
Provost and David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and the College, University of Chicago

Keynote: Setting the Conditions, Avoiding the Consequences

Madelyn Creedon
Former Principal Deputy Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy; Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense 

Unintended Consequences of Conflict

Thomas Countryman
Chairman, Board of Directors, Arms Control Association

Francesca Giovannini
Strategy and Policy Planning Officer to the Executive Secretary, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization

Robert Rosner
William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, the College, and Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago; Chair, Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Moderator: Rachel Bronson
President and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Break

Flash Talk: The Road to Conflict Resolution: 5 Gaps

Clare Lockhart
Director and Co-Founder, Institute for State Effectiveness  

    How Negotiations Take Place

    Steven E. Miller
    Director, International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

    Wendy R. Sherman
    Professor of Practice and Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State

    Konstantin Sonin
    Pearson Faculty Affiliate; John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

    Moderator: Anne Gearan
    White House Correspondent, The Washington Post

    Flash Talk: Combating Polarization

    Mina Cikara
    Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

    Closing Remarks

    James A. Robinson
    Institute Director, The Pearson Institute; Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies and University Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

    2020 Speakers
    Maria Angélica Bautista
    Senior Research Associate
    Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
    Rachel Bronson
    President and CEO
    Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
    Mina Cikara
    Associate Professor
    Department of Psychology, Harvard University
    Margaret Goud Collins
    Executive Director
    Friends of International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
    Thomas Countryman
    Chairman, Board of Directors
    Arms Control Association
    Madelyn Creedon
    Former Principal Deputy Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
    Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense
    Seth B. Darling
    Director, Center for Molecular Engineering and Senior Scientist Chemical Sciences & Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory
    Fellow, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    Oeindrila Dube
    Philip K. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies
    Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
    Paul Farmer
    Chief Strategist and Co-Founder, Partners In Health
    Kolokotrones University Professor, Harvard University
    Elizabeth Ferris
    Research Professor
    Institute for the Study of International Migration, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
    Anne Gearan
    White House Correspondent
    The Washington Post
    Francesca Giovannini
    Strategy and Policy Planning Officer to the Executive Secretary
    Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
    Supratik Guha
    Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    Director, Nanoscience and Technology Division and the Center for Nanoscale Materials, and Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director, Argonne National Laboratory
    Alice Hill
    David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment
    Council on Foreign Relations
    Elizabeth Hume
    Vice President
    Alliance for Peacebuilding
    Amir Jina
    Assistant Professor
    Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
    Walter Kaelin
    Envoy of the Chair
    Platform on Disaster Displacement 
    Zalmay Khalilzad
    Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation
    U.S. Department of State
    Chelsey L. Kivland
    Assistant Professor
    Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College
    Vally Koubi
    Professor and Senior Scientist, Center for Comparative and International Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
    Professor, Institute of Economics, University of Bern
    Mark Koyama
    Associate Professor of Economics
    George Mason University
    Ka Yee C. Lee
    Provost and David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor
    Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and the College, University of Chicago
    Clare Lockhart
    Director and Co-Founder
    Institute for State Effectiveness
    Abrahm Lustgarten
    Senior Environmental Reporter
    ProPublica
    Laurel Miller
    Program Director, Asia, International Crisis Group
    Former Deputy and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. Department of State
    Steven E. Miller
    Director
    International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
    Kayly Ober
    Senior Advocate and Program Manager
    Climate Displacement Program, Refugees International
    Ada Palmer
    Associate Professor
    Early Modern European History and the College, University of Chicago
    Gretchen Peters
    Executive Director
    Center on Illicit Networks and Transnational Organized Crime
    Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis
    President, Fondation Connaissance et Liberté-FOKAL
    Former Prime Minister of Haiti
    James A. Robinson
    Institute Director, The Pearson Institute
    Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor and University Professor; Harris School of Public Policy and Department of Political Science, University of Chicago; Recipient of the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
    Robert Rosner
    William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, the College, and Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
    Chair, Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
    Michael Semple
    Professor
    The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University Belfast
    Wendy R. Sherman
    Professor of Practice and Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
    Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State
    Konstantin Sonin
    John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor
    Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
    Michael Tiboris
    Nonresident Fellow, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
    Director, Clear Water Farms Program, River Alliance of Wisconsin
    Andrew Wilder
    Vice President
    Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace
    Austin L. Wright
    Assistant Professor
    Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

    2020 Location

    The third annual Pearson Global Forum was held virtually October 6-8, 2020.

    To ensure the health and safety of all conference participants and attendees during the ongoing uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the third annual Pearson Global Forum was reformatted to be held virtually over the course of three days. 

    2020 Media

    The third annual Pearson Global Forum was held virtually October 6 - 8, 2020. 

    Follow the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #PearsonGlobalForum