Online Seminar Series: October 2026 – June 2027
This project, led by Jean-Jacques Subrenat (ret. French Ambassador and Distinguished Fellow of the IGN), brings together different generations from across the world to discuss current topics at the junction of geopolitics and negotiation.
The online seminar series offers a platform where ideas can be exchanged, and dialogue is fostered in times of polarization.
Sessions of the second full seminar cycle take place once a month from October 2026 until June 2027. Applications for participation in the series opens from 24 August to 08 September 2026.
Interested in participating?
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The Seminar
The seminar series takes place once a month on Zoom with a selected group of up to 30 participants from an interdisciplinary and intergenerational background.
After a successful first cycle (October 2025 to June 2026), IGN is continuing this participatory monthly seminar to another cycle, from October 2026 to June 2027. Designed as an online, intergenerational and international exercise, the Challenges of Our Time seminar requires each registered participant to actively engage.
To make the seminar more accessible to participants around the world, this cycle will be offered in two parallel cohorts. Both cohorts will follow the same program and discuss the same topics, with meeting times scheduled to accommodate different time zones:
Seminar A: first Tuesday of each month at 18:30 CEST/CET
Seminar B: first Thursday of each month at 11:00 CEST/CET
The list of monthly topics will be announced at the first session (October 2026). Each monthly topic shall be prepared by a group of 2 to 3 participants, as the framework of that session’s debate. In between sessions, the Project Leader and Project Co-Moderator will be available for advice on preparing an upcoming topic. The Challenges of our time seminar provides an overview of topics generally discussed in separate silos (politics, economy, society, innovation, defence, environment, diplomacy, etc). Working with people from different generations, backgrounds or geographic locations, is an opportunity to enrich one’s understanding of contemporary challenges. At the end of the 2026-2027 seminar, participants will receive an IGN Certificate as a testimonial of their active involvement.
Subrenat has conducted similar monthly seminars in-person with Collegium60Plus in Bern from 2017 to 2024 (in English), withOPAD in Dijon since 2019 (in French), and recently most with members of U3A-York (online in English and French).
Challenges of our Time – Geopolitics & Negotiation
Schedule & Timing
Seminar A: 6 October, 3 November, 2 December, 5 January, 3 February, 2 March, 6 April, 4 May, 1 June
Suggested time Seminar A: 18:30 to 20:30 Central European Time (CET = GMT+1; UTC = 17:30)
Seminar B: 8 October, 5 November, 4 December, 7 January, 5 February, 4 March, 8 April, 6 May, 3 June
Suggested time Seminar B: 11:00 Central European Time (CET 0 GMT+1; UTC = 09:00)
Participation
Rather than serving a variable audience, this intergenerational seminar is aimed at a fixed group of selected active participants from around the world. Applications are open from 24 August to 08 September 2026.
Requirements for participants
A few hours a month, depending on familiarity with any chosen topic.
Why form a separate group for each topic? As an opportunity to rub neurons with people you don’t know, from different backgrounds (the equivalent of a break-out room on a video call, but more active). Preparing a topic together (usually online) is a first modest step towards negotiation. Between sessions, the moderators remain available online to guide participants in preparing their presentation and organizational aspects.
Project Team
Jean-Jacques Subrenat
Project Lead & IGN Distinguished Fellow
Jean-Jacques Subrenat, IGN Distinguished Fellow, is a former French ambassador. He has led similar participatory seminars in Bern (Switzerland) with Collegium60Plus from 2018 to 2024, and in Dijon (France) with OPAD since 2019. Read more about him here.
Johanna Olbrich
Project Associate & IGN Fellow
Johanna Olbrich has a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies. She is currently working in the field of security co-operation. At the IGN, she was a member of the Project Team for the GNC (Global Negotiation Conference) 2024, and serves as Communications Officer supporting various IGN projects. Read more about her here.
Norbert G. Berger
Digital Learning Officer and Senior Fellow
Norbert Berger is a cross-cultural skills coach experienced in online education, professional and academic language teaching, hardware and software development, web administration, authoring and teacher training. His research interests focus on learner and teacher beliefs, attitudes and knowledge as well as discourse and transactional analysis. Norbert Berger is also acting Digital Learning and Members Officer of the Institute.