Portfolio

With the Centre for Geopolitics, as part of the biannual National Security Geopolitics Simulation day, Isabelle McRae organized and chaired a panel on the complexities of decision-making during humanitarian crisis at Cambridge University on June 24. The world class panel featured Claire Clement – Director International Law and Policy British Red Cross; Sir David Lidington – Former UK Lord Chancellor; and Lt Gen (retd.) Doug Chalmers – Former UK Deputy Chief of Defence Staff.

The lively discussion explored the considerations that go into a state’s crisis response from the government, military and humanitarian perspective.  You can watch the whole talk on Youtube here:

Last week Isabelle was in Borjomi, Georgia, for Restart Initiative’s joint dialogue project with the Hertie School. It was the 8th workshop in the Economic Connectivity Armenia-Azerbaijan Dialogue Series (ECAADS) supported by the EU4Peace Program. This workshop brought together women water experts from the two countries to discuss issues of mutual interest and explore projects of mutual benefit in the South Caucasus in partnership with the Women in Water Diplomacy Network.

Azerbaijani and Armenian participants explored environmental peacebuilding, examined how experiences from other regions can inform water-based confidence-building, and developed actionable project proposals for further collaboration.

In a long-term contract with the Centre for Geopolitics, strengthening the Centre’s work on the Indo-Pacific region has been a priority. Isabelle successfully renegotiated the strand’s agreement from the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring in more high calibre international speakers for the annual Indo-Pacific Roundtable, managed reporting and prepared new 6-figure concept notes. In addition to securing running and research costs, Isabelle has developed bilateral relations with cybersecurity companies, banks and law firms to sponsor Indo-Pacific geopolitics events in Cambridge and London.

At the Centre for Geopolitics, Isabelle has played a key role in developing the Centre’s biannual national security crisis response simulations and securing funding for them. Each simulation centers on an imagined (but realistic) crisis set in the near future, through which a subject of topical security and foreign affairs interest is explored. They bring high-level politicians, academic experts, officials, diplomats, and military leaders together with our MPhil students in a true-to-life simulation of the UK’s National Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) in operation. Isabelle successfully negotiated a corporate sponsor for this summer’s simulation, and she will be chairing the June 24th public panel on government, military and international organization’s responses to complex humanitarian crises. Stay tuned for more details!

Isabelle, in her role as Director of Restart Initiative, co-organized a high-level dialogue in Bonn with LINKS Europe and the Candid Foundation on May 3, 2024. The event, titled “Climate Change Peace and Security – COP 29 and Beyond” included Representatives of parties to the Climate Convention and of the UN Climate Secretariat, and brought together leading participants from around 30 academic institutions, think tanks and civil society organizations to chart a way forward for COP29 in Baku in November. Isabelle chaired an expert discussion on human rights, mine action and climate adaptation.

Read more here:

https://www.commonspace.eu/news/bonn-dialogue-meeting-calls-theme-climate-change-peace-and-security-be-included-agenda-cop29