Team

Chair of Advisory Council

Baroness Ashton previously served as the Vice President of the European Commission and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

President

Jack R. Williams is an Adjunct Professor and Consultant for UNITAR.

Board Member

Francis Cheneval is the Chair of Political Philosophy at the University of Zurich.

Head of Strategic Partnerships

Patrick is an Independent Consultant working on a wide range of global affairs and international law. He is currently based in Florence, Italy.

Social Media Officer

Johanna holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Philipps-University Marburg. She is the Institute’s Social Media Officer.

Senior Fellow

Shontaye Abegaz leads the IGN the Global Negotiation Conference 2026. Founder of the International Institute for Human Security, she is also an expert in human security, peacebuilding, and high-level dialogue.

IGN Fellow

Sarah Shalash is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in International Affairs & Diplomacy at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

IGN Fellow

Vinicius is a Civil Engineer graduated from University of Twente, Negotiation Teacher at NPT (Negotiation project Twente) and passionate for human-centric approach on engineering.

IGN Fellow

Charlotte Zimmermann is a Bachelor’s student in International Relations at the University of Geneva. She is a team member of the IGN e-Conference 2026.

Senior Fellow

Salma Yusuf is an International Lawyer & Senior International Specialist Consultant on Democratization and Governance, Peace and Conflict, Transitional Justice, Human Rights, Democratization, and Governance, Justice & Rule of Law.

Senior Fellow

A highly experienced diplomat and negotiator, he has notably led complex multilateral negotiations on behalf of the European Union in the United Nations, and engaged in several multistakeholder initiatives. He leads the Global Negotiation Support Initiative of the Institute for Global Negotiation.

Senior Fellow

Fiorella Larissa Erni is a seasoned frontline negotiatiator. Today, she supports private sector clients in high-stakes negotiations and holds various other roles.

Advisory Council

Martin Dahinden is a Swiss diplomat and economist, former Ambassador to the United States, and past head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Board Member (Secretary)

Maxime Schoch is a Consultant and works on large transformation projects with the financial industry.

Board Member

Stefanie Walter is Full Professor for International Relations and Political Economy at the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich.

Head of Operations

Tea Mustać is currently an LL.M. candidate at Harvard Law School, and consequently on leave from her role as Head of Operations at the Institute for Global Negotiations. She specializes in cross-cultural negotiation and AI/data governance.

Communications Officer

Thais Pellosi is a Brazilian professional with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from the Federal University of Uberlândia.

IGN Fellow

Karoline holds a Master‘s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Philipps-University Marburg. She is Project Coordinator for the IGN e-Conference 2025.

IGN Fellow

Asier Hernandez works as the legal manager of All Iron Real Estate (one of the leading Spanish REITs). Asier holds a degree in Translation and Interpreting and is a Law Graduate from the University of the Basque Country (UPV).

IGN Fellow

Baniz Wasman is an international relations graduate currently pursuing her MA in International Affairs Policy & Analysis at American University, with a strong passion for humanitarian work.

IGN Fellow

Kelvin Muli is a climate and biodiversity governance expert leading the African Network for Climate Action, with extensive experience in global negotiations, policy advocacy, and community-based adaptation across Africa.

Senior Fellow

Felix Addor serves as the Deputy Director General of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (Swiss Ministry of Justice).

Senior Fellow

Nele Erdmann has been developing and managing international climate protection projects for 13 years.

Distinguished Fellow

Jean-Jacques Subrenat, Ambassador (ret.). Areas of interest: global challenges, ethics, governance, public policy, public awareness, education, media.

Advisory Council

Mazlan Othman is the former Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

Board Member (Treasurer)

Jonathan Lamprecht serves as Treasurer for the IGN and works as a Product Manager for a Swiss scale-up company.

Head of Communications

Vera Hauser is a Junior Researcher at the University of St. Gallen, where she is completing graduate studies in International Affairs and Governance and the ISP-MBA program.

Finance Officer

Magdalena Brugger acts as the Institute’s Finance Officer and holds a law degree (Magistra) from the University of Graz.

IT Officer and Senior Fellow

Norbert Berger is an experienced teacher of cross-cultural skills at the University of Graz.

IGN Fellow

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.

IGN Fellow

Maximiliano R. Schilling holds a Master’s in International Affairs and Diplomacy from UOC-UNITAR and a Political Science degree from the University of Buenos Aires.

IGN Fellow

Filippo Martini is Adj. Professor, Trainer and Consultant in Negotiation and Mediation. At the IGN he is with the Journal for Global Negotiation.

IGN Fellow

Aparna Trichur is an international relations expert with over a decade of global experience building high-level diplomatic partnerships and advancing the SDGs, now serving as an IGN Project Fellow involved with the Global Negotiatio Support.

Senior Fellow

Honorary Associate Professor in Negotiation at Aarhus University | Business and Social Sciences, Denmark and owner of the specialized negotiation, mediation and management company GUDSØE ApS

Senior Fellow

Dr. Randall Waechter is a cognitive neuroscientist and social entrepreneur who applies his formal training in brain, behavior, and higher cognitive processing to applied problems of global urgency and significance.