Past Events

As we reach the halfway point of 2022, STEAR had the opportunity to evaluate events from the last 6 months, and review what this may mean for the latter half of the year in EU-Asia relations. From the continued impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, to the first major European military conflict in decades, the events of 2022 so far have been unprecedented.

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Speakers:

• H.E. Nong Sakal - Ambassador of the Kingdom of Cambodia to Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and the EU

• Anne McNaughton - Director of the ANU Centre for European Studies

• Dr. Frederick Kliem - Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

For this edition of the STEAR Dialogue, we were in discussion with H.E. Bernardino Regazzoni who shared about his experiences in diplomacy, the challenges he faced during his work, the role of Switzerland in international relations, as well as the cultural differences and commonalities of China and countries in Europe.

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Speaker:

• H.E. Bernardino Regazzoni - Ambassador of Switzerland to the People’s Republic of China, Mongolia, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

STEAR organized an online event with the aim of displaying Ukrainian culture. Cultural understanding is an important part of fostering peace and connecting people. To thwart the dehumanising effects of war, we wanted to shine a light on Ukrainian culture.

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Speakers: 

• Olha Honchar - Cultural Expert, Anti-Crisis Manager & Director, Territory of Terror Museum, Lviv

• Alisa Lozhinka - Independent Curator & Art Critic

• Lia Dostlieva - Artist, Cultural Anthropologist & Essayist

 

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Goals of the event: Identify key issues in Europe-Asia multilateral cooperation and highlight the needs of multi-regional cooperation in the pandemic era; create a network of young people active in Europe-Asia relations and build a forum where people with common interests can get together and exchange opinions for future actions; foster strong relationships among young working professionals and student think tanks and lay the foundation for future collaboration; bring the voices of young people into multilateral policy by presenting the event’s conclusions to leading institutions in the Europe-Asia space.

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Speakers included: 

• Dr. Jayant Menon - Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

• Dr. Jing Rong Goh - Director at Risk Lighthouse

• Themis Christophidou - Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission

 

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Our Studying in China panel featured four panellists studying on two of China’s leading scholarship programmes: two Schwarzman Scholars, based at Tsinghua University, and two Yenching Scholars, based at Peking University. During our hour-long panel discussion, participants had the chance to speak to our panellists about the admissions process, life in Beijing, differences from undergraduate to postgraduate life, and everything in between.

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Speakers: 

• Luke Cavanaugh - Schwarzman Scholar

• Mingqi Xie - Schwarzman Scholar

• Dao Nguyen - Yenching Scholar

• Daniel Tafelski - Yenching Scholar

• Cherry Yu (Moderator) - Double Master’s Degree in International Affairs, Peking university and London School of Economics

GSMUN is a virtual Model United Nations conference aimed at generating awareness about climate issues in anticipation of Humanitarian Affairs Asia’s inaugural Green Summit to be held at the United Nations in Bangkok, Thailand, in December 2022.

The Summit featured 3 Committees of up to 30 people each. The Committee topics included:

1) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Climate Refugees (UNHCR) - Climate Refugees (beginners only) 2) African Union - The Great Green Wall 3) United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) - Extreme Weather Events

For this edition of the STEAR Dialogue, we were in conversation with Cornelia Kutterer, talking about her career path so far, her work at Microsoft regarding European government affairs and how responsible technology works in a European & EMEA context! 

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Speaker: 

• Cornelia Kutterer - Senior Director, Head of Responsible Tech & Competition, European Government Affairs, Microsoft

Just one week after the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, we discussed the wider use of sports diplomacy in international relations as well as how sports can be used to unify, rather than divide, with a focus on European and Asian countries. 

 

Speakers: 

• Thierry Zintz - Emeritus Professor at UCLouvain, Former VP of the Belgian IOC

• Dr J. Simon Rofe - Reader at the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy, at SOAS University of London

• Karen Tanchanco-Caballero - Deputy Secretary General at The Philippine Olympic Committee

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The Virtual Global Village aims to facilitate the interpersonal exchange between participants in order to provide young people with an opportunity to learn about and experience different cultural backgrounds on a deeper level.

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Speakers included: 

• Ann Follin - Director General, National Museums of World Culture, Sweden

• Themis Christophidou - Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission

• Nico Luchsinger - Executive Director of the Asia Society Switzerland

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Speakers:

• Dr Yeo Lay Hwee - Director of the European Union Centre, Singapore

• Cédomir Nestorovic - Academic Director of the ESSEC & Mannheim EMBA Asia-Pacific program & Professor in the Management Department at ESSEC Business School, Singapore

• Dr Claudia Astarita - Lecturer at Sciences Po-Lyon & researcher for the Military Center for Strategic Studies (CeMiSS) of the Ministry of Defense

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This was a series of two workshops, given by More Perspectives, on becoming a better op-ed writer. The first workshop introduced the participants to the basics of op-ed writing, as well as help them develop their own perspective and ideas. The second workshop went more into the specifics of op-ed writing.

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Speakers:

• Carla Cabrerea Cuadrado & Alexander Langlois - Co-founders More Perspectives

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In collaboration with other think tanks and youth organizations, STEAR hosted multiple online panel discussions on the EU's Indo-Pacific Strategy! Our goal was to start a dialogue and promote a broader understanding of the EU’s interactions in the region. Also, we analysed key relationships between EU and Indo-Pacific states as well as other important stakeholders. From Friday to Saturday (26-27 November), there were 5 panels on Security & Geopolitics, Climate Change & Green Recovery, Technology & Digitisation, Human Rights & Migration, Trade & beyond, followed by a workshop on Sunday (28 November). 

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Find out more!

In the second edition of The STEAR Dialogue, we had the pleasure to welcome Ambassador Josef Rychtar, current Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to the Islamic Republic of Iran. He shared with us his experience in the diplomatic service and explained why the pandemic has profoundly changed his profession. 

 

Speaker:

• Josef Rychtar - Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Iran

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STEAR is proud to announce its new event series: The STEAR Dialogue. We will focus on more personal, experience-oriented and diverse themes including career development, advice for young people, culture, activism and more. This time, we were in conversation with James Crabtree, the Executive Director at IISS–Asia.

 

Speaker:

• James Crabtree - Executive Director at IISS–Asia

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This exciting panel discussion on different global perspectives towards nuclear proliferation has shed light on the challenges around disarmament and the impact of nuclear weapons on Europe-Asia relations.

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Speakers:

• Ambassador Stephan Klement - Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the International Organisations in Vienna

• Professor Ramesh Thakur - Emeritus Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy and Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations

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In this our first training event, STEAR Members and Specially Invited guests were treated to interdisciplinary lessons on Networking: how to get connected, stay connected, and build genuine and long-lasting relationships.

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Speakers:

• Dr. Yang Mee Eng- Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation

• David Jordan- Chief Revenue Officer of Elrow

• Liza Diño-Seguerra- Chair of Film Development Council of the Philippines, Actress, and LGBT Rights Activist

• Maaike Goslinga- Managing Editor at De Correspondent

In the past decade, the global refugee population has more than doubled, with countries in both Asia and Europe experiencing an influx of refugees and migrants. During the panel discussion on migration and welfare in times of crises, our speakers offered their unique insights into how migrant and refugee crises are addressed in Europe and Asia.

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Speakers:

• Rizka Argadianti Rachmah - Chairperson, SUAKA Indonesia

• Nina Gregori - Executive Director, European Asylum Support Office

• Rodora Turalde-Babaran - Director of Human Development, ASEAN Secretariat

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China has become a major player in international cooperation. Not only its economic power, but also its political and cultural influence as well as its value system is increasingly visible on the multilateral stage. This panel discussion addressed the question of how international institutions like the UN and multilateral organisations such as the EU interact with China and what we can expect from China’s role within multilateralism in the future.

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Speakers:

• Pascul Nufer - Swiss Radio and Television

• Yuka Kobayashi - SOAS, University of London

• Richard Jayad Heydarian - Polytechnic University, Philippines

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Reviving Crossways was a multifaceted Cultural Launch event, including a Virtual Tour of Museo Maritimo, a keynote prsentation from Dr Asma Abdullah, and a Cultural Workshop from our very own STEAR Cultural team in collaboration with Artdialogo Asia.

 

Keynote Speaker:

• Dr Asma Abdullah - Cultural Intelligence Coach

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In a very special STEAR event, we were thrilled to host Lord Simon McDonald of Salford, former head of the British Diplomatic Service and UK Foreign Office. 

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Speaker:

• Lord Simon McDonald - Former Permanent Under Secretary and Head of the UK Diplomatic Service (2015-20), and currently a member of the House of Lords.

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Our official launch event featured discussions on the future of Asia-Europe relations from a panel of high-level guest speakers, thoughts from our Co-Presidents on the importance of Asia-Europe cooperation and our vision for STEAR, and the opportunity to meet our board.

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Keynote Speakers:

• Nicolas Chapuis - Ambassador of the European Union to China

• Toru Morikawa - 8th Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation.

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