PS21 update week ending February 12

Greetings from a freezing New York. We now have a really great crop of events up and running in London, New York and DC, so very much look forward to seeing some of you at them. From the upcoming US election to the zika virus outbreak to the ongoing carnage in Syria, 2016 is giving us no shortage of issues to get our teeth into.

See below for more details on some of the great events we have lined up this week. If you would like to join our team, e-mail PS21central@Gmail.com for further details.

What else we’ve been up to this week

Christine Nikol looks at what it would be like Living with Pandemic for our Imagining 2030 Series, read Robert Colvile’s PS21 Review – How Doctor Who’s Stephen Moffat explains Donald Trump and Patrick Bury looks at how ISIS Goes for Broke in Libya.

For more or our Imagining 2030 series, click here.

Upcoming events

NEW YORK

Tuesday, February 16 — “Insurgent Candidates” — Trump and Sanders. What do they mean and can they win?

Within both the Democratic and Republican parties, the 2016 election has seen almost unprecedented challenge to their political establishments and status quo. What do the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders – both very different politicians from each other but also to the more conventional figures in their parties – tell us about the state of politics and America? Where does their support come from, and perhaps the most important question, how far can they go?

Peter Apps [Moderator]: PS21 Executive Director

Clifford Young: President, US Ipsos MORI

Chris Kahn: US Political Polling Editor, Thomson Reuters

Robert Shapiro: Professor of Political Science, Columbia University

Tuesday, February 23 – The Zika Virus: What’s Next?

With the mosquito-borne zika virus on the rise in Latin America and with thousands of babies apparently already brain-damaged, how can global health authorities possibly respond? What does the science say and where are the gaps in our knowledge? And with some countries already simply recommending women avoid pregnancy, what kind of international and local health response would prove appropriate?

Panelists will include NYU assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology Taraneh Shirazian, Mount Sinai epidemiologist Dana Mazo and David Abrahamson, director of NYU’s program on population recovery and resilience.

LONDON

Monday, February 15– Front-line civilians — challenges, opportunities and threats

A discussion examining the experiences, challenges and roles of front-line expatriate civilian staff — from military contractors to aid workers, journal in modern conflicts. — who find themselves increasingly on the frontline involved in conflicts. Panelists will include U.S. Army War College anthropologist Darya Pilram, humanitarian security specialist Sheelagh Brady, acting director of the International News Safety Institute Anna Bevan and former British Army officer and defence attache to Yemen Iain Smailes. The discussion will be moderated by PS21 company secretary Tom Beazley.

This event will take place at the Christian Aid office in Waterloo. Sign up here

Monday, February 22 — US Election 2016 – What happens next?

With the US elections in November 2016 only a stone through away, we are looking back to the two recent primarys, but we are looking ahead to which candidates will define the course of their party for decades to come. The panel of speakers will include Julia Clarke from Ipsos MORI, a leading market research company, Prof. Andrew Moran from London Metropolitan University whom specialises in US Foreign Policy, John Elledge, editor at CityMetric.com and former Daily Telegraph Washington correspondent Peter Foster

This is a joint event between Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) and PS21.

WASHINGTON DC

Monday, February 22 – Will Syria’s War Ever End?

Five years after the start of the “Arab Spring”, Syria’s civil war is as brutal as ever — and dragging in ever more outside powers. As Russian-backed government forces close on Aleppo, has Bashar al-Assad finally regained the upper hand? What compromises might Syrians be willing to accept as the price of peace — and given the increasing involvement of foreign states, does that even matter? How will a new American president handle what increasingly looks like one of the defining regional wars of the era?

The discussion will be moderated by Peter Apps and the panelists will include Rasha Elass, Syrian American journalist and former Damascus-based reporter. PS21 Global Fellow and Andrew Tabler, Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Thomson Reuters, 1333 H Street Northwest, Washington DC

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