Online Seminar Series: October 2025 – June 2026
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 polarisation.
Past Cycle
Sessions took place once a month from October 2025 until June 2026. Applications for participation in this cycle closed on 19 September 2025.
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 pilot phase (April to June 2025), IGN expanded this participatory monthly seminar to a full cycle, from October 2025 to June 2026. Designed as an online, intergenerational and international exercise, the Challenges of Our Time seminar requires each registered participant to actively engage.
The list of monthly topics will be announced at the first session (October 2025). 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 Associate 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 2025-2026 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
This is the schedule of the past cycle in 2025/2026. For any upcoming iterations, no schedule has been set yet.
One Tuesday per month: 7 October 2025, 4 November, 2 December, 6 January 2026, 3 February, 3 March, 7 April, 5 May, 2 June.
Time
Suggested time: 18:30 to 20:30 Central European Time (CET = GMT+1); this may be changed, in order to accommodate a majority of registered participants in various time zones.
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 for the last cycle closed on 19 September 2025.
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 organiser remains available online to guide participants in preparing their presentation and organisational 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.