5:30 PM

Registration

Please arrive early to allow for sufficient time to check in. The auditorium has a capacity of 430 people and attendees will need to use an elevator to get to the auditorium.

6:30 PM

Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Dr. Stefan Tschauko, Conference Creator & Chair; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University/SIPA; Visiting Scholar, Ralph Bunche Institute; Instructor, Harvard and Sciences Po Summer Schools
• Prof. Wafaa El-Sadr, Executive Vice President of Columbia Global; University Professor of Epidemiology, Columbia University
• Dr. Eli Karetny, Conference Executive Committee; Deputy Director, Ralph Bunche Institute, CUNY Graduate Center
• Amb. Wolfgang Petritsch, President of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation; President of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs; former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and UN Ambassador

7:00 PM

Keynote Address

• Melissa Fleming, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications
• Amb. Stavros Lambrinidis, Ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations
• Prof. Ian Hurd, Professor of Political Science, President of the Faculty Senate, Northwestern University

7:30 PM

Conclusion and Outlook

7:30 AM

Registration

8:30 – 9:45 AM

Research Panels: Slot A — Parallel

• Art and Design for a Better World
• Visual Communication and Data Visualization for a Better World
• Storytelling for a Better World
• Framing for a Better World
• Branding for a Better World
• The Impact of Language on Communicating a Better World
• The Role of Science and Education in Communicating a Better World

10:00 – 11:15 AM

Research Panels: Slot B — Parallel

• Strategic Communication and Communication Strategies
• Communication Platforms and Communication Politics
• Participation and Partnership as Communication
• Public Diplomacy and Public Support
• Artificial Intelligence and Communication Strategies
• Information Integrity and Trust in Contested Communication Terrain
• Social Media and Virtual Reality in Communicating a Better World

11:30 AM – 12:45 PM

Research Panels: Slot C — Parallel

• Ideas, Legitimacy, and Trust
• Institutions for Communicating a Better World
• Artificial Intelligence Governance, Sovereignty, and Responsibility
• The Politics of Communication on Migration and Displacement
• The Politics of Communication on Global Public Health
• The Politics of Communication on SDGs
• The Politics of Communication on the Environment

1:30 – 2:30 PM

Communicating Multilateralism in Fragmented Global Public Spheres: Platforms, AI, and the Future of UN Institutional Communication
— parallel

How can the United Nations communicate multilateralism in increasingly fragmented global public spheres? This roundtable examines how platforms, artificial intelligence, geopolitical competition, and declining institutional trust reshape international communication. Bringing together scholars of public diplomacy, digital diplomacy, strategic narratives, international public opinion, and science communication, it explores challenges, their structural causes, and possible responses. Discussions will address the implications of technological infrastructures, platform governance, and competing claims to truth and legitimacy for UN organizations and their stakeholders. Participants will consider how dialogue, relationality, mutual recognition, and ethical responsibility can support more inclusive, trustworthy communication and strengthen possibilities for collective action.

• Organizer: Zhao Alexandre Huang, Associate Professor of Communication, Gustave Eiffel University; Junior Member of the Fundamental Chair on Public Diplomacy, Institut Universitaire de France
• Dr. Phillip Arceneaux, Associate Professor of Strategic Communication, Miami University of Ohio
• Dr. Di Zhang, Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China
• Dr. R.S. (Rhonda) Zaharna, Professor Emerita in the School of Communication, American University, Washington D.C.,
• Dr. Mengxiao Zhu, Full Professor and Founding Chair of ICA China Chapter

1:30 – 2:30 PM

Policy Communications in a
Changing Information Environment
— parallel

Effective communication is essential to evidence-based policymaking, ensuring research is accessible, relevant, trusted and usable. Yet AI, information abundance, changing consumption habits and declining trust are transforming how policymakers discover and assess evidence, while resource constraints demand greater impact with fewer resources. This workshop brings together communications professionals from the UN, academia, think tanks, research institutes and international organizations to examine the future of policy communications. Through peer-to-peer discussion, participants will identify lessons, emerging risks and opportunities, and practical approaches for strengthening policy influence, with particular attention to translating science and evidence into credible, accessible and relevant information for decision-makers.

• Organizer: Jack Durrell, Ph.D., Head of Communications, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research
• Jaya Jiwatram, Creative Innovation, Office of the Under-Secretary-General, Department of Global Communications, United Nations
• Dr. Natalia Pasternak, Lecturer at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs; Curator of the science book series What Science Says

Time tbd

Beyond Public Engagement:
How Institutions Can Listen Better to Constituents
—parallel

This roundtable brings together practitioners who work directly with the challenge of understanding publics, from city government to the UN system, to interrogate a deceptively simple question: what does it actually mean for an institution to listen to constituents? Drawing on themes from Eric Gordon’s new book, How Institutions Listen: Civic Data, AI, and the Path to Public Trust (MIT Press), the session moves past familiar public engagement frameworks, such as town halls, surveys, and comment periods, to ask what genuine institutional listening requires, and why so much formal “engagement” fails to translate into decisions that people actually trust.

• Organizer: Eric Gordon, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Media Innovation & Social Impact; Faculty in the College of Communication, Boston University
• Deanna Bitetti, Head of External Relations and Communications, UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency
• Elizabeth Hamby, Director of Civic Engagement, New York City Department of City Planning

1:30 – 2:30 PM

Covering the United Nations:
Journalism, Access and Trust in a Changing Information Environment
— parallel

For 80 years, journalists covering the United Nations have connected the institution to the people it serves, shaping how the world understands its work. That role is becoming more vital and more difficult. UN bureaus are closing, international reporting budgets are shrinking, and social media, misinformation and AI are reshaping how audiences encounter world events, while polarization intensifies scrutiny of the UN and those who cover it. Bringing together experienced UN correspondents, this session explores access and transparency, access versus independence, trust and credibility, making UN journalism accessible, the changing information ecosystem, and the future of the UN press corps.

• Organizer: Stéphanie Fillion, Editor-in-Chief, Envoy magazine; United Nations correspondent
• Colum Lynch, Senior Global Reporter, Devex
• Eddit Wright, Media Manager, UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund)
• Kaori Yoshida, Journalist, Nikkei

1:30 – 2:30 pm

Designing for Change:
Effective Communication of SDGs
— parallel

Design plays a central role in how we understand the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), measure progress towards them, and communicate change with various audiences. Design can support broader and more impactful understandings of SDGs while also using data as a language for communicating where individuals and institutions are effective—or where they might be in the future. This roundtable brings together designers and academics whose work is aimed at making the SDGs meaningful, trackable, and communicable. Participants will explore the role of graphic design, data collection, and data visualization in SDG work across public and academic settings.

• Organizer: Chris Alen Sula, Ph.D., Associate Provost for Academic Affairs; Associate Professor, Pratt Institute
• Dr. Peter Hoffman, Senior Fellow at the Ralph Bunche Institute (CUNY) and Non-Resident Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation (NYU)
• Giorgia Lupi, Partner, Pentagram
• Boaz Paldi, former Chief Creative Officer, United Nations Development Programme; CEO and Co-Founder, Full Frame Advisory

2:45 – 3:45 pm

Opportunities and Challenges in the
Ethical Use of AI in UN Communications
— parallel

Ethical choices about AI are shaping how the United Nations communicates and sustains public trust. As adoption advances unevenly across the U.N. system, communicators face urgent questions about transparency, accountability, human oversight, and risks of bias and exclusion. This session brings together scholars and practitioners to examine opportunities and ethical challenges in internal and external communications across organizational contexts. The conversation will explore where AI can strengthen communication, where human judgment remains essential, and where it should not be used, while safeguarding the credibility, impartiality, and public trust on which the United Nations and its work around the world depend.

• Organizer: Anuradha K. Herath, Adjunct Lecturer, City College of New York; Doctoral Studies, Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Former Director General International Affairs, Sri Lanka Prime Minister’s Office
• Dr. Eduardo Zachary Albrecht, Columbia University, SIPA
  Adjunct Professor; Co-Director of the UNITAR–Columbia SIPA Executive Program Series on Negotiation and AI
• Veronika Cernadas Loret, Deputy Director of Communications, Carnegie Council
• Jaya Jiwatram, Creative Innovation, Office of the Under-Secretary-General, Department of Global Communications, United Nations
• Prof. Adam Peruta, Dean’s Fellow in AI; Program Director, Advanced Media Management; M.S. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

2:45 – 3:45 pm

Designing New Collaborations:
A Working Session on Creative Partnership
— parallel

UN agencies are fluent communicators to governments and development partners, but comms in the current environment increasingly requires reaching new audiences. Engaging corporate leadership, civil society and activists, not to mention a skeptical general public, is becoming more essential to successful programs. With limited internal bandwidth, many UN teams partner with outside creative agencies to craft brands and campaigns that appeal to new audiences. Different kinds of creative partnerships unlock different kinds of communication power. This session brings UN staff and creative practitioners into the same room to map those possibilities and design better ways to create innovative communications.

• Organizer: Patrick Durgin-Bruce, Founder, Ultravirgo
• Carlotta Aiello, UN Women, Communication & Branding Specialist
• Michael McCoughley, Creative Director, Champions Design

2:45 – 3:45 pm

From Information to Action:
Digital Platforms for a Better World
— parallel

What moves people from knowing about global challenges to doing something about them? This interactive session explores how digital platforms can make complex evidence accessible, turn sustainability awareness into participation, and connect decision-makers with practical solutions. Through a preview of Earth Info Hub, a live walkthrough of Be the Change, and examples from the Inequality Solutions Portal, participants will discover three approaches to bridging the gap between information and action: making reliable climate and environmental science easier to use; applying marketing and behavior change principles to campaigns for good; and showcasing policies from around the world that reduce inequality and exclusion. Together, we’ll explore practical questions facing communicators: How do you make information useful? What gives people a reason to engage? And how do you design a clear path from interest to action? With time for audience questions and exchange, the session will offer concrete examples and practical ideas for communicators working across the United Nations, civil society, research, and public policy.

• Organizer & Moderator: Thibault Chareton, Director of Communications, NYU Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
• Brigitte Perrin, Founder, Earth Info Hub; former Chief of Strategic Communications, World Meteorological Organization
• Bev Ho, Creator, Be the Change; Head of Strategy, Sustainability and Global Partnerships, The Next Practice

Time slot tbd

The Impact of Art in Creating a Better World
— parallel

• Prof. Yann Toma, Professor of Arts, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Artist-Observer at the UN
• Nathalie Anglès, Executive Director and co-founder of Residency Unlimited (RU) — on “Supporting the creative process of local”
• Dr. Sozita Goudouna, Professor & Curator, University of London — on “Contemporary art, criticism and introspection in practice : an ‘open’ way.”
• Prof. Dave Schroeder, Music Professor of Jazz Studies, NYU — on “500 Harmonicas for the United Nation’s International Day of Peace”
• Raymond J. Dowd, Dunnington’s litigation and arbitration, Fordham University, School of Law — on “Art, fashion law and international practice”

3:50 PM

Closing Remarks

• Dr. Stefan Tschauko, Conference Creator & Chair