e-Conference 2026
Program

Program

All parts of the e-Conference take place online. Links to all sessions (including the keynote) are sent out to registered and accepted participants via email in advance. Applications are open until 25 February 2026.

The keynote with Dr Kumi Naidoo is a public event that requires separate registration here.

Subscribe to our Newsletter here to stay up to date with the e-Conference and IGN activities.

Sessions

The 2026 e-Conference features three core sessions, each addressing a distinct dimension of irrationality and exploring strategies for responding when counterparts act beyond established norms of reason, reciprocity, or dialogue. Guided by leading experts, these sessions will combine theoretical insight with practical discussion, offering participants the chance to engage directly with facilitators and colleagues. Designed to be both interactive and reflective, the program encourages the exchange of experiences, perspectives, and tools for navigating complex negotiation dynamics.

Further details on the individual sessions, including details on facilitators and speakers, are published on this website and on the IGN social media channels.

Certificates

Participants who have completed the conference will receive an official IGN certificate attesting their participation. To obtain a certificate, active attendance of all sessions is required and will be checked.

Schedule

Day 1: Friday, 27th of February 2026

14:30 – 16:00 CET | Opening Session

Introduction to the Conference, the Organizers and IGN, Schedule, and Participants.

Warm-up Questions & Ice Breakers in Break-Out Rooms.

16:00 – 18:00 CET | Session 1

Understanding the Irrational: Between Strategy, Emotion, and Perspective

Moderated panel discussion + Q & A, Moderated by Vera Hampel

What truly defines irrationality – and from whose perspective? This opening session invites participants to rethink how negotiators understand behaviour that appears unpredictable, unreasonable, or beyond logic. Bringing together insights from neuroscience, mediation practice, and economic theory, the session approaches the concept of irrationality from three distinct angles. Dr. Randall Waechter, a cognitive neuroscientist, explores how the brain develops, processes information, and responds to conflict. Dr. Zaza Johnson Elsheikh, an international mediator and trainer, examines how negotiators can remain empathetic toward profoundly different worldviews while maintaining clear safeguarding boundaries, drawing on case studies including radicalisation and Female Genital Mutilation. Professor Abhinay Muthoo, an economist and negotiation scholar, offers a perspective grounded in bargaining and game theory, challenging assumptions about what counts as “rational” behaviour in negotiation. By examining different logics of action, emotional dynamics, fear, and deeply held worldviews, the session encourages participants to reflect on their own assumptions about rationality and sets the conceptual foundation for the discussions that follow throughout the conference.

Prof. Abhinay Muthoo

Professor Abhinay Muthoo is an economist and negotiation scholar specialising in bargaining and game theory. He is a Research Lead at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and has held senior academic posts at leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, and the University of Warwick. He is the author of a leading book on bargaining theory (Cambridge University Press) and the recipient of the Druckman Prize for outstanding contributions to negotiation research. His work on negotiations includes collaboration with the late Nobel Laureate John Nash, and he regularly engages with practitioners and policymakers on complex negotiations in public policy and international settings.

Dr. Zaza Johnson Elsheikh

Dr. Zaza Johnson Elsheikh (MBBS PG DiPLP) is an international mediator and trainer for the past 20 years, will be presenting a session to explore how mediators can stretch their ability to be empathetic towards parties whose world views are significantly different from their own whilst remaining alert to safeguarding concerns. Case study discussions will include the topics of radicalisation and Female Genital Mutilation.

Dr. Randall Waechter

Dr. Randall Waechter is a cognitive neuroscientist and social entrepreneur who is dedicated to addressing the greatest challenges of our time by understanding the brain, how it develops, how it processes information, and how it handles conflict. He is equally interested in teaching others how their own brain functions and in disseminating those lessons as widely as possible. As more people understand brain function and how to regulate cognitive processing, conflicts (which are an inevitable fact of life) are more likely to be resolved effectively (i.e., peacefully). This co-regulation begins in early childhood, so Dr. Waechter established the Global Centers for Child Neurodevelopment, with a mission to teach parents this knowledge and skills so they can pass them on to the next generation. As a Senior Fellow at the IGN, Dr. Waechter has almost two decades of experience in international cooperation, particularly addressing the systemic inequities between the global north and the global south and international climate change work with the UNFCCC.

Moderator: Dr. Vera Hampel

Dr. Vera Hampel is a Principal at Egger, Philips & Partner in Zurich, a negotiation consultancy based on the Harvard Concept, and a leadership expert trained at the University of Zurich’s Center for Leadership in the Future of Work. She holds a PhD in leadership research from the University of Zurich on applying emotional intelligence in the workplace, and a double-degree MA in Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Marburg and University of Kent). Drawing on her experience as a systemic consultant, therapist, and mediator, she integrates psychological insights into negotiation, mediation, and leadership development, emphasizing emotional intelligence as essential for effective dialogue and resolution.

18:30 – 19:30 CET | Keynote Address

Keynote Address + Q & A

Kumi Naidoo is a globally respected human rights and environmental justice activist and currently serves as President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. He is the former Secretary-General of Amnesty International and the first person from the Global South to lead Greenpeace International. His work spans decades of leadership at the intersection of climate justice, political mobilisation, and people-powered movements. At the IGN e-Conference 2026, Kumi will bring a political perspective to the conference theme by examining irrationality in climate negotiations. Drawing on his lived experience in global advocacy and high-level political engagement, he will explore how power, emotion, and political worldviews shape what is often labelled as “irrational” in negotiation spaces, and why engaging with these dynamics is essential for meaningful progress. His keynote will reflect on how negotiators and leaders can navigate such complexities, and how storytelling and personal experience play a critical role in shaping negotiation processes that are credible, human, and transformative. This keynote will offer timely and grounded insights for practitioners and scholars working in governance, diplomacy, activism, and conflict transformation, and will challenge participants to rethink dominant assumptions about rationality in global decision-making.

Dr. Kumi Naidoo

Kumi Naidoo is a South African human rights and environmental justice activist, who is currently the President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. He is the former Secretary-General of Amnesty International (2018-2020) and also the first person from the Global South to lead Greenpeace International (2009-2015). He is an advisor for the Community Arts Network. He serves as a global ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity. His family has started the Riky Rick Foundation for the Promotion of Artivism to build on the positive legacies left by popular South African rapper Rikhado “Riky Rick” Makhado through his music and life’s work. Through this Foundation, he co-founded the Global Energising Artivism Initiative. Kumi is also the author of award-winning Letters To My Mother: The Makings of a Troublemaker and the host of the podcast Power, People and Planet.

Moderator: Dr. Hayley Walker

Hayley Walker is Associate Professor in International Negotiation at IÉSEG School of Management (France). Her expertise lies in the field of large-scale multilateral environmental negotiations. She is interested in how the negotiation process can influence the quality of the outcome, and her research has investigated the nature of trust in chairs and other presiding officers. She has participated as a stakeholder in the Belgian delegation in a number of environmental negotiation processes, including on climate change, chemicals management and plastic pollution. In 2022, she worked with the United Nations climate change secretariat (UNFCCC) to co-facilitate a consultative review process investigating how to strengthen the engagement of non-state actors in climate negotiations.

Day 2: Saturday, 28th of February 2026

10:00 – 12:00 CET | Session 2

Talking to the Unreachable: Communication, Emotion, and Power

Parallel Breakout Presentations, followed by Open Plenary Discussion

When dialogue breaks down, facts are contested, and tensions rise, negotiators face a critical question: what can I do now? This session features Kirk Kinnell, a specialist in crisis and hostage negotiation and Alice Wairimu Nderitu, a seasoned diplomat and mediator with extensive experience in high-stakes political dialogue. Drawing on their real-world experience, they explore strategies for listening under pressure, managing emotional escalation, navigating power asymmetries, and responding when counterparts refuse engagement. Participants gain practical tools to handle difficult conversations while maintaining agency, clarity, and the possibility of future dialogue.

Kirk Kinnell

Kirk Kinnell is a globally respected negotiator and crisis specialist, renowned for his leadership in high-pressure environments involving armed policing, hostage negotiation, and complex conflict resolution. With over 30 years in law enforcement and frontline negotiation, Kirk has built a distinguished career navigating the most volatile situations with calm precision and strategic clarity. As the former Head of Armed Policing and Hostage Negotiation in Scotland, Kirk led some of the UK’s most critical operations, including international kidnapping cases involving British nationals in high-risk regions such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Now the founder of Negotiated Resolutions Ltd, Kirk consults across the public and private sectors, helping organisations navigate high-stakes negotiations, crisis leadership, and decision-making under pressure. Further, he currently serves as a consultant to the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN) and is an associate of the ADN Group (Paris).

Alice Wairimu Nderitu

Alice Wairimu Nderitu has been a recognized voice in the field of peacebuilding, human rights, violence prevention and mediation of armed conflict. She previously served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide. She prioritized translation of the concept of genocide prevention as an international, regional and national norm to a practical reality implemented at the community level. Ms. Nderitu previously headed the Human Rights Education and Capacity-Building Programme of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, was a Commonwealth Exchange Fellow on education at the South African Human Rights Commission, served as Director of Education for Social Justice at the non-profit organization Fahamu Oxford, UK, and as Commissioner of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) in Kenya. At NCIC, she headed the education department and co-founded the Uwiano Platform for Peace in 2010, a conflict-prevention agency that pioneered mobile technology linking early warning to early response in Kenya. Ms. Nderitu has contributed to defining the role of women mediators of armed conflict, as one of the few women mediator signatories to peace agreements.

Moderator: Lucas Steinbach

Lucas Steinbach is a PhD scholar and researcher at the UC Louvain, specializing in peacekeeping and the use of force implementation in the DR Congo. For the IGN, he coordinates the IGN’s Global Negotiation Conference in 2025. Prior, he hosted the session on Feminisms and Peacebuilding at the IGN e-conference 2024 and participated in the Global Negotiation Conference in 2024. Professionally, Lucas worked as a seminar leader for the ASA Program, as a speaker for the Kolping Network for Refugees and as a research consultant for FEIN Consulting where he focused on intercultural contexts and gender issues. His academic background includes a master’s degree in ‘Security and Terrorism’ from the University of Kent and bachelor’s degree in politics from the Philipps University of Marburg.

12:15 – 13:00 CET | Fake News, Irrationality, and Spurious Correlations: Why Science Still Matters

In this interactive intervention, the team of the IGN Journal for Global Negotiation invites participants to reflect on how perceptions and competing truths shape our understanding of reality in an age of information overload. When knowledge becomes negotiable and “rationality” itself is questioned, science communication plays a crucial role in rebuilding trust and shared meaning. Together, we will explore how the process of academic research can be understood as a negotiation, and how communication and language shapes how we comprehend scientific insights. Participants are encouraged to critically reflect on how research findings are presented to the public and how facts can be (mis)appropriated to fit different narratives. Participants are invited to share experiences, question assumptions, and consider how to communicate science effectively when facts alone no longer suffice.

Julia Gubler

Julia is with the Journal for Global Negotiation and is a Fellow at the Institute for Global Negotiation. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the World Trade Institute in Bern, researching the intersection of trade and climate policy. Previously, she gained professional experience at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Geneva and the Swiss Mission to the EU in Brussels. Julia studied International Relations at the University of Geneva for her Bachelor’s degree and completed her Master’s degree in International Governance and Diplomacy at Sciences Po.

13:00 – 15:00 CET | Lunch break

Lunch break with interactive network opportunities.

15:00 – 17:00 CET | Session 3

New Frontiers: Irrationality in Systems, Technology, and Global Crises

Personal Storytelling and Conversation.

What if the concept of irrationality is not limited to humans, but embedded in institutions, technologies, and systems that increasingly shape decisions? This closing session explores how negotiation is influenced by forces beyond individual behaviour – from slow-moving bureaucracies and organizational routines to artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. It features Claude Bruderlein, US Attorney and specialist in the Laws of War with over 30 years of frontline negotiation experience; Ugne Fink-Jensen, international business negotiator and tech lawyer with expertise in high-stakes IT, digital and innovation negotiations; and Hansjörg Eberle, Founder and Director of the Fondation Suisse de Déminage (FSD), specializing in humanitarian demining and peacebuilding. Through examples, personal stories, and expert insights, participants will examine how algorithms, institutional rules, and automated systems interact with human biases, and how negotiators can anticipate, adapt, and design approaches for these complex dynamics. The session encourages a forward-looking discussion on designing negotiation strategies that account for systemic bias, complexity, and uncertainty.

Claude Bruderlein

Claude Bruderlein is a US Attorney & Specialist in the Laws of War with more than 30 years of experience in frontline negotiation, including humanitarian access and crisis diplomacy in Afghanistan, the Middle East, East Africa, and North Korea. He teaches humanitarian crisis management and frontline negotiation at Harvard University for 25 years and has served as Strategic Advisor to the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Claude Bruderlein is the lead author of the first Manual on Frontline Humanitarian Negotiation, which helped set global standards for practice in the field. He is also the founder of the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation and of Frontline Associates, a global training and research center dedicated to advancing AI-assisted negotiation.

Ugne Fink-Jensen

Ugne Fink-Jensen is an international business negotiator, tech lawyer, and speaker with more than 15 years of experience and a strong background in high-stakes IT, digital, and innovation negotiations. Through Firm&Fair, she advises organisations on internal and external dealmaking and leads negotiation programs and sessions focused on excellence and the advantage of human skills in a technology-driven world. Previously, she was Lead Negotiator and Senior Group Counsel at a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, where she led negotiations shaping large-scale digital transformation initiatives. Ugne holds an LL.M. from Stockholm University and executive credentials from Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, and INSEAD.

Hansjörg Eberle

Hansjörg Eberle is Co-Founder & Director of Fondation suisse de déminage (FSD). Since 1997 he has led FSD’s development into an internationally recognised humanitarian mine action organisation with around 1,000 staff and programmes in Colombia, Ukraine, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Iraq, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. He is a former Head of Finance & IT at the ICRC, where he served for twelve years. In his talk on irrationality in negotiations, he draws on three decades of operating in politically and security-sensitive environments to show how trust, personal relationships, reputation and risk management often determine whether dialogue is possible – and how durable commitments really are.

Moderator: Helen Zhang

Helen Zhang is the co-founder of Intrigue Media, which produces expert but irreverent briefings on global affairs issues at the intersection of geopolitics, tech, and business. Helen is a 2020 Fulbright Scholar and Master in Public Administration graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she specialized in geo-tech policies. She's an ex-Googler, experienced diplomat, negotiator, Mandarin interpreter, attorney, and public speaker, and an Emerging Tech Fellow at Sydney University.

17:00 – 18:00 CET | Closing Session

Conference recap and reflection, and outlook towards future opportunities.

e-Conference 2026 Program

Program​