To delve deeper into the concepts covered in REMIT’s first conference, to provide a comprehensive overview of each session’s topics, and to offer participants a glimpse of what awaits them (or why you should register if you haven’t already – registration closing May 10!), we’ll be rolling out a Session Series in the weeks leading up to the event.
| May 17, 9.45-11.30 | Session 6 Related initiatives on technology & multilateralism Moderator: Prof. Paul Timmers, KU Leuven, Belgium Speakers: Prof. Roberta Haar, Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Prof. Hylke Dijkstra, Maastricht University, EU Support for Global Governance Transformation (ENSURED Horizon project); Prof. Maria Grahn-Farley, University of Gothenburg, Human Rights Justification (HRJust Horizon project); Prof. Daniel Mügge, University of Amsterdam (Regulaite Initiative), Netherlands |
Parallel session 6 is hosted and organised by REMIT partners from the University of Leuven – the hosts of the conference.
Understanding international relations in the age of technology is mind-bending. When geopolitical tensions are rife and we are the brink of war or even beyond, can we even work together globally? How does technology enable, constrain or weaponize international relations? What about human rights dialogue, inclusive democratic participations, and protection of human rights defenders when dictatorship and global crises are on the rise? Can we illustrate constructive global policy – or even cooperation between ‘likeminded’ countries – by looking at the case of one of the most transformative technologies, Artificial Intelligence? How are actor coalitions formed that aspire to drive policy in technology and multilateralism and who are they?
With these questions in mind, the EU with its Horizon Europe R&D programme, national governments, prominent research institutions, and industry have therefore good reason to pursue multiple projects and initiatives. Connecting them will help bring better science and better policy. In this session we pursue this with a selection of such projects: REMIT, ENSURED, HRJUST and REGULAITE. Each of these will briefly present their objectives, key themes, and progress. We will then engage in a panel + audience debate.
Session moderator, conference head organiser prof. Paul Timmers has shared some thoughts on what’s to come in Session 6.
What is the importance of holding conversations on technology and multilateralism in today’s world?
Our lives as citizens and as democratic states will be much determined by the confluence of rising geopolitical tensions and disruptive technologies. For global peace, security, stability, and safeguarding human rights and liberal democracy it is critical to research and understand these changes. We seek to advance the emerging discipline of techno-politics. We must also go a step further and actively contribute international dialogue, cooperation, multilateralism, and, if possible, global governance, based on informed understanding and joining up perspectives.
What can participants expect from attending this session?
Attend this session, whether you want to be informed about what is going on or want to follow and engage in the debate about global policy and technology, or share your ideas to shape current and future research collaboration.
What aspect are you most looking forward to being explored in the session, considering the speakers and their specialties?
I see this session as a joining of minds. None of us has the full picture. I look forward to confronting, comparing and joining up the different understandings and perspectives.
Which other session are you most looking forward to attending in the 1st REMIT conference?
I hope to attend most of them, they are all highly interesting! If I would single out one, it is the most forward-looking, green-field at this conference: quantum and multilateralism.
Session speakers
Prof Dr Paul Timmers is research associate at the University of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute, professor at KU Leuven and European University Cyprus, senior advisor EPC Brussels, Chair of the Supervisory Board Estonian eGovernance Academy, member of the EU Cyber Direct Advisory Board, research fellow of CERRE, and CEO of iivii. He was Director at the European Commission with responsibility for legislation and funding for cybersecurity, e-ID, digital privacy, digital health, smart cities, and e-government; and cabinet member of European Commissioner Liikanen. He was software manager at a large ICT company and co-founded an ICT start-up. Physics PhD from Radboud University (Nijmegen, NL), MBA from Warwick University (UK), EU fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill (US), and a cybersecurity qualification from Harvard. His main interests are technology and geopolitics, publishing and advising on digital developments, technology and sovereignty, cybersecurity, industrial policy, and sectoral policies such as telecommunications, semiconductors and digital health.
Prof. Dr. Hylke Dijkstra is Full Professor of International Security and Cooperation at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. He is an expert in global governance, multilateralism and international organizations. He studies how increasing geopolitics and the deteriorating relations between states affect prospects for international cooperation. Hylke Dijkstra is the Principal Investigator of an ERC research project on the decline and death of international organizations. He is also the Project Coordinator of the Horizon project ENSURED on how the EU and its members can transform global governance.
Maria Grahn-Farley is a Law Professor at the University of Gothenburg. She researches amongst other child rights and legal theory as well as human rights claim in climate justice, where she advocates for reintroducing anti-discrimination principles in climate justice cases involving children. Grahn-Farley is the coordinator for the HRJust project, which received €3 million from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. Her accolades furthermore include the annual academic book award in 2019 for her commentary on the Child Rights Convention. She has a new book to be released in May, “Child Rights, Legal Theory, Social Advocacy” (CUP 2024). Additionally, she has held prestigious fellowships at the University of California and Harvard Law School. Grahn-Farley holds a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and another LLM from Gothenburg University.
Daniel Mügge is a Professor of Political Arithmetic at the University of Amsterdam, specializing in the European governance of artificial intelligence (AI). He leads the RegulAite project, focusing on “AI diplomacy”, exploring the EU’s AI relations with major global players and its role in multilateral regulation efforts. Mügge co-initiated the Citizens, Society, and AI (CiSAI) research platform and co-directs the “AI & Politics” Research Priority Area at UvA. His PhD dissertation won an ECPR Jean Blondel prize and and his earlier work concentrated on the political economy of macroeconomic indicators. Mügge has held visiting scholar positions at Harvard University as well as at the Freie Universität Berlin as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow.
Roberta N. Haar is Professor of Foreign Policy Analysis and Transatlantic Relations at Maastricht University. She is the lead researcher (PI) of a large EU Horizon project entitled REMIT (Reignite Multilateralism via Technology). REMIT Research (https://www.remit-research.eu) includes 40 researchers and 10 support staff residing at 9 partner institutions across Europe. The project intends to enhance EU multilateral policy making in areas of strategic technology. She is also the co-applicant of Vista-Map, a project that aims to rediscover the effective visual diplomacy of the US Marshall Plan (1948-1952)—the soft power that supported European integration and the growth of democracy in Europe. She is the author and co-editor of several academic works, including The Making of European Security Policy: Between Institutional Dynamics and Global Challenges, published in the Routledge Studies in European Security and Strategy series. Her academic work in Foreign Policy Analysis in known for its innovation and development of new tools for understanding foreign policy change. For example, her article on explaining Foreign Policy Change (FPC) using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and her article that developed new tools to understand foreign policy failures in the Trump presidency. Prof. Haar is committed to public outreach, frequently presenting at academic, professional and public events. She also publishes regularly for foreign policy professionals and for the public in her column entitled Across the Atlantic for the Dutch national news magazine EW Magazine.