Offer a workshop in negotiations in collaboration with Harvard

Nineteen exceptional students and specialists in the field of International Affairs from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, and Iceland are participating in a workshop this week on negotiations and conflict analysis at the University of Iceland. The European Negotiation Boot Camp is organised by the University of Iceland Institute of International Affairs; Höfði Reykjavík Peace Centre; the City of Reykjavík, and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. The workshop is, furthermore, supported by the Prime Ministry of Iceland and the Embassy of the United States of America.

European Negotiation Boot Camp is a five-day workshop during which time participants will learn to apply the Harvard method in negotiations, and how to prepare for, participate in, and evaluate, complex international negotiations. The participants come from many of the leading universities in the USA, Russia and Europe. The are all specialised in international affairs, peace and conflict resolution, and security issues. During the workshop they will face three highly challenging exercises in the field of negotiations and conflict resolution, besides attending lectures by specialist in the field of the Russian-American relations, peace studies and disarmament issues. 

Two specialists from the University of Iceland, Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir, associate professor at the Faculty of Political Science, and Pia Hansson, head of the University of Iceland Institute for International Affairs, are among those who address the group. "The participants in the workshop have varied and interesting backgrounds and hail from a variety of countries.  Some are doctoral candidate; whereas others work for various organisations such as the UN; various NGOs; the EU, and international think tanks.  A fun fact is that one of the participants, Tinatin Japaridze from Georgia, a master’s student in Internet Security at the Harriman institute in the USA, is one of the authors of the Icelandic Eurovision song Is it true?" says Pia.  

Two Icelandic women participate in the workshop, Ragnheiður Kolsöe, who works in the Icelandic Foreign Ministry, and Védís Ólafsdóttir, project manager at the United Nations University Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme (UNU-GEST), operated at the University of Iceland. They both have extensive experience of international work in challenging circumstances. 

But how can Iceland and Icelanders contribute in this area, and how will this new collaboration with Harvard benefit the University of Iceland and Icelandic society in general? This is the beginning of a new collaboration that we have a lot of faith in. A proposal has been put forth to run a few similar short workshops, especially in the field of disarmament, in collaboration with Harvard next year," says Pia, and adds:  "Iceland has a lot to contribute in this area, not least in times like these when there is more tension between the USA and Russia.  At such times it is vital to have a neutral setting for specialists to meet and discuss these important and volatile issues.  The goal is of course also to increase the knowledge in this field here and to enhance the ability of Iceland to work towards Iceland's international goals on the peaceful resolution of conflict."