Tag Archives: Research

Wanted – Your views on how Strategic Foresight should be integrated into the academic field of International Relations – for #futureday

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Posted on behalf of our Honorary Fellow, Cat Tully

Is the academic field of International Relations losing out because it doesn’t embrace foresight thinking? What can we do about it? If you have 5 minutes to share your views and thoughts, read on and fill out the survey: HERE.

This year, at the International Studies Association 2014 Conference, we are hosting a Roundtable on the practice and pedagogy of strategic foresight in International Relations, entitled: ‘Bridging the Gap : The Art and Practice of Strategic Foresight in International Relations‘.  The purpose of this Roundtable is to bring together International Relations scholars and practitioners to discuss the role of strategic foresight in international relations and to strengthen the community of interest to take this endeavour forward. To prepare for this Roundtable we are conducting a survey on the practice of strategic foresight in international relations – and seeking your views on this issue.

Strategic foresight approaches, when incorporated into long-term planning processes, can have significant impact on international policy-making. Looking beyond present challenges and opportunities to those on the horizon is arguably an indispensable and necessary role of government especially in the foreign policy realm. At this time of geopolitical uncertainty, there is growing interest in this approach to understand developments in the spatial dimensions of foreign policy. Yet foresight has a strangely marginal position in the International Relations academic sphere and is largely absent from most International Relations faculties and courses. However, it is arguably a discipline worth being taught and studied in universities.  The strategic foresight toolkit is growing in use by foreign policy practitioners, including diplomats.  And research would help clarify and focus on debates about good practice and the effectiveness of strategic foresight in influencing decision-making.

By hosting a Roundtable on this issue, we will be exploring the importance of strategic foresight and the challenges it faces in the school of international relations.  We will be discussing the contribution of scholars to foresight in international affairs, debate the value of the endeavour, and share examples of effective approaches and projects.  This survey will collect views from a wider group of people prior to the roundtable – and is being launched on World Futures Day on the 1 March, a day to celebrate the possibilities for transforming the future and an opportunity to open dialogue on these issues. You can get involved now by filling out this survey and contributing your views to the debate. The results of the survey will be discussed at the Roundtable and incorporated into an associated report.

The Survey will open on World Futures Day on Saturday 1st March, and will be live for 10 days, closing on Monday 10 March. It should take between 5-10 minutes to complete.  Follow this link to fill out the survey: COMPLETE SURVEY

Thank you very much.  And have a great #Futureday

– See more at: http://fromoverhere.net/2014/02/wanted-your-views-on-how-strategic-foresight-should-be-integrated-into-the-academic-field-of-international-relations-for-futuresday/#sthash.A7eSog1o.dpuf

Danny Steed to speak at “Spy Chiefs” conference in Venice

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Dr Danny Steed will be presenting a paper at the University of Warwick’s “Spy Chiefs” conference in May 2014, in Warwick’s Venice conference venue. Full details of the conference can be found below:

The Politics and International Studies Department at Warwick is delighted to announce an upcoming conference entitled ‘Spy Chiefs: Intelligence Leaders in History, Culture and International Relations‘.

The conference will be held on May 6th and 7th in Warwick’s Venice-based conference facility, and will feature keynote speeches from Tony Mendez, the CIA agent who the film Argo is based upon, and Professor Christopher Andrew, Intelligence historian at Oxford and former Official historian for MI5.

The papers and panel discussions held within the conference will focus around the following set of issues.

In many countries today spy chiefs are the public face of intelligence. They speak to the media, appear before public inquiries and committees, and even write books. This has not always been the case. In the United Kingdom, for example, heads of agencies were historically appointed in secret, their names and roles not officially disclosed to the public.

This international conference brings together leading academics and practitioners from across the world to broaden and deepen our understanding of what makes an intelligence leader.

Conference website including registration information is here:http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/paisseminars/spychiefsconference/

Paul Cornish – Recent Conferences and Events

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Professor Paul Cornish spoke on ‘Professional Military Education in a Strategic Age’ at a conference sponsored by NATO and the UK Defence Academy at Wilton Park in May 2013. Later in May Professor Cornish spoke on ‘The Idea of a National Security Strategy’ at a conference in honour of Professor Colin Gray at the University of Reading.

Following the death of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday 22 May Professor Cornish published a short article on The Conversation UK; an independent, online source of news and opinion drawn from the academic and policy research community.

Professor Cornish’s article can be found on The Conversation’s website:

http://theconversation.com/the-duty-of-care-that-should-keep-our-armed-forces-safe-but-didnt-14645