Worldview Institute | Spring 2026
The Worldview Institute | Spring 2026 Semester
Note: the schedule for all Worldview seminars are: Dinners 6:30 – 7 p.m. | Seminars 7 – 8:30 p.m. A hosting venue will be added for each seminar as confirmed. Registration deadline: February 7, 2026.
_____
SEMINAR 1 : February 11, 2026
Inside the UN: Communicating in a World on Edge
In a moment marked by global crises, polarization, and the rapid spread of misinformation, how does the United Nations communicate with the world, and how does it decide what to say, and when? Drawing on his experience at the center of UN communications, Ian Phillips will offer a candid look at how narratives are shaped during moments of crisis, the tensions between transparency and diplomacy, and what it means to build public trust in an increasingly fragmented information landscape.
Guest lecturer: Ian Phillips, Senior Editor, UN News & Strategic Communications
Venue: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Conference Room 44A, One Bryant Park, New York, NY
SEMINAR 2 : February 18, 2026
The Diplomacy of Cultural Heritage and the Technologies of Historic Preservation
Visual culture — an often-overlooked component of soft power — has had a pervasive influence on diplomatic relations. This seminar examines the development of cultural diplomacy and technology from the use of The Frick Collection and Art Reference Library photoarchive by the Monuments Men in WWII to the use of climate change data and AI to visualize the environmental history of our planet. While the visual impact of our cultural and environmental heritage has long influenced international relations, it has been the adaptation of new technologies that has extended its reach and exacerbated its influence. Through an historical overview of the entangled development of visual culture and emerging technologies, this seminar will elucidate the role that AI plays in cultural heritage preservation and how it will shape the future of cultural diplomacy.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Emily L. Spratt, Art Historian, Data Scientist, Strategic Advisor
Venue: Elsevier, 521 Fifth Avenue (between 43rd & 44th Streets), 7th Floor, New York NY
SEMINAR 3 : February 25, 2026
The Arctic in Transition: Climate, Security and Global Cooperation
As climate change accelerates transformation in the Arctic, the region is becoming increasingly central to questions of environmental risk, geopolitical competition, and international cooperation. This seminar will explore how Arctic states are responding to these shifts, the role of multilateral institutions in managing emerging challenges, and why developments in the High North increasingly matter for global stability and global governance.
Guest lecturer: H.E. Mr. Andreas von Uexküll, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN
Venue: McCarter & English LLP, 250 West 55th Street (between Broadway and 8th Avenue), 13th Floor, New York, NY 10019
SEMINAR 4 : March 4, 2026
UN Secretary-General Elections: Could the Next SG Be a Woman?
Jean Krasno will lead an in-depth discussion on how the United Nations selects its Secretary-General, one of the most consequential yet least understood processes in global governance. Drawing on the history of past selections and her own long engagement with UN reform, she will explain how nominations unfold, the formal and informal roles of member states and the Security Council, and how political dynamics shape the final outcome. With nominations for the next Secretary-General approaching this spring and a new leader expected to take office early next year, the seminar will also examine the growing momentum, and remaining obstacles, around electing the first woman Secretary-General in the UN’s history.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Jean E. Krasno, lecturer and tenured member of the faculty in the Department of Political Science at the City College of New York (CCNY).
Venue: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Conference Room 44A, One Bryant Park, New York, NY
SEMINAR 5 : March 11, 2026
Power, Policy and Global Cooperation in the Age of AI
As AI moves to the center of economic and political life, decisions about its use are no longer confined to technology firms or technical experts. They are increasingly shaping diplomatic relationships, national strategy, and global cooperation. In this session, Vilas Dhar will examine how governments, multilateral institutions, and non-state actors are attempting to govern AI in real time, often without precedent or shared rules. Drawing on recent UN-led efforts, including the Global Digital Compact, he will explore what these processes reveal about the limits of existing institutions and the openings for new forms of multilateral action.
The conversation will focus on how power is exercised through technology governance, where coordination is breaking down or beginning to emerge, and how responsible leadership takes shape as AI becomes a defining force in global affairs.
Guest lecturer: Vilas Dhar, President, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Venue: Kearney, Empire State Building, 350 5th Avenue, 78th floor, New York, NY
SEMINAR 6 : March 18, 2026
Writing and Thinking about the War in Ukraine
The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created unprecedented challenges for journalists and experts covering the conflict. As Ukraine mobilized to defend itself, and the Kremlin pursued an increasingly aggressive campaign against its critics, journalists were forced to rely on war theorists, sociologists, and policymakers, as well as on-the-ground reporting, to attempt to understand the conflict. As the war enters its fifth year, this conversation will reflect on one journalist's experience writing about the conflict and consider how we might think about its possible future.
Guest lecturer: Keith Gessen, Contributing Writer at The New Yorker and professor of magazine journalism at the Columbia Journalism School.
Venue: Phillips Nizer LLP, 485 Lexington Avenue (bet. 46th and 47th Streets), 14th Floor, New York, NY
SEMINAR 7 : March 25, 2026
Children in War: Power, Protection and the Hard Choices of Diplomacy
Children are among the most vulnerable and most affected in modern conflict. This seminar will explore what war looks like through the lives of children caught between violence, survival, and displacement, and how those lived realities shape the decisions diplomats and international actors must make. Grounded in real-world experience, the discussion will consider the tension between protection and power, the limits of international mechanisms, and what meaningful action can, and cannot, look like in practice.
Guest lecturer: Vanessa Frazier, Under Secretary-General, and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Venue: TBA
SEMINAR 8 : April 1, 2026
A Private Tour of the United Nations
Step off the lecture stage and into the corridors of one of the world’s most consequential institutions. This is not a tourist visit, but a guided experience that offers participants a deeper sense of how the United Nations functions, and what it represents. As the group moves through the UN headquarters, the tour will invite reflection on the people, symbols, and decisions housed within its walls. The experience is designed to complement the seminar series by grounding abstract debates in place, history, and lived institutional reality, and by encouraging participants to think differently about the UN’s role in a changing world.
A private tour of the United Nations with fellow Worldview participants will be followed by an opportunity to discuss impressions and insights over dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Note: The time of the UN Tour is 4:30 p.m. followed by dinner nearby at 6:00 p.m.
SEMINAR 9 : April 8, 2026
Iran and the Dynamics of Change: Voice, Courage and Consequence
What does this moment in Iran feel like on the ground, and what does it demand from those watching from afar? This conversation looks beyond headlines to the lived realities shaping Iran today: women at the center of change, the courage of civil society, and the personal costs of resistance and exile. In an intimate, off-the-record setting, the discussion will reflect on power, pressure, and possibility, and on what solidarity and advocacy can, and cannot, accomplish now.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Neda Bolourchi, award-winning Middle East scholar and U.S. foreign policy expert
Venue: Elsevier, 101 Park Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10017 *** (Note: new address for this date) ***
SEMINAR 10 : April 15, 2026
Venezuelan Exile: A Force for Democracy
Venezuela’s dictatorship has driven the largest migration crisis in the world, forcing nearly 9 million Venezuelans into exile. The resilience of this diaspora — and its active engagement with those inside the country — has become a decisive force in the struggle to restore democracy and freedom.
Guest lecturer: David Smolansky, Global Human Rights Advocate and Former Mayor of El Hatillo, Venezuela
Venue: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Conference Room 44A, One Bryant Park, New York, NY
April 17, 2026
Worldview Spring 2026 | Graduation Dinner
Dinner Presentation Topic: TBA
Dinner speaker: TBA
Location: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY
