Talks

Selected Recent Lectures

On the Path to Net Zero,” New York University Abu Dhabi Institute, New York, October 10, 2023.

The Geopolitics of Critical Materials: The Role of Central Asia,” The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, October 12, 2023

“New Frameworks for Food Security: India, China, and Shifting Global Orders,” The New School, October 5, 2023. 

“The securitization of the green and digital transitions: Europe’s distinct response,” ETH Zurich Switzerland, SGA Biennial Meeting August 29, 2023.

“Food security as a pillar of power making in the Climate Crisis Era,” The Third International Sustainable Development Dialogue (ISDD): Making and Unmaking Africa, organized by Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria, The African Network of Environmental Humanities (ANEH) and Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC), Munich, Germany, June 26, 2023.

“Critical Minerals, Geopolitics, and the Risks for Achieving the Sustainable Transition,” Public Lecture Series, London School of Economics, The Grantham Research Institute, March 29, 2023.

“Terre Rare: La Cina e la geopolitica dei Minerali Strategici,” The European House Ambrosetti, October 26, 2022.

Critical minerals and energy security: Governance challenges and risk-mitigation solutions,” panelist, ENI Political Talks, June 8, 2022.

Discursive dimensions of ecological civilization” Uniting Ecology and Civilization: Histories, Theories, Futures, NYU Athens, organized by the eARThumanities NYU Abu Dhabi, the Rachel Carson Center, LMU and the Center for Ecological History, Renmin University, Beijing May 27-28, 2022.

“Critical but not rare: Building European rare earth and permanent magnets value chains,” panelist, EIT Raw Materials Summit, Berlin, May 23-24, 2022.

Moderator and speaker at The EU: Canada’s Partner for Supply Chain Diversification, EU Chamber of Commerce in Canada, February 16, 2022.

“Rethinking the Collapse of the first East African Community (1977): Lessons for the EU,” with Asteris Huliaras in eds. Jean-Marc Trouille, Helen Trouille and Penine Uwimbabazi, The East African Community: Intraregional integration and Relations with the EU (Routledge, 2021)

Participant in The Geopolitics of Critical Minerals Policy Lab Discussion,  Foreign Policy Research and Foresight Division (POR) at Global Affairs Canada (GAC),  December 15, 2021.

Discussant for “Collision Course: The 1980s and the Transformation of Water Politics in Asia,” Sunil Amrith, Professor of History, Yale University, India-China Institute, The New School, September 23, 2021.

“Between Rocks and Hard Places: Geopolitics of Net Zero Futures and the Tech Imperium,” Summer Institute at Caltech and the Huntington, Convener and panelist, July 12-14, 2021.

“Evoke and Provoke: story making and storytelling for the Anthropocene” workshop, NYUAD Anthropocene Kitchen, June-July 2021.

 “Strategic partnership or systemic Rivalry in a Microcosm: ΕU and China in Djibouti,” European Union in International Affairs’ (EUIA) Conference, Brussels, May 26-28, 2021 (held virtually).

“Himalayan Water Security: An Unfolding Global Challenge,” in discussion with David Michel (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) and Mark Swislocki (NYUAD)

Rich Rocks, the Climate Crisis, and the Tech-Imperium,” The William and Myrtle Harris Distinguished Lecture in Science and Civilization, Caltech, April 14, 2021.

Between Rocks and Hard Places: Critical Minerals, Climate Change and the Future of Globalization with Chris Berry, eARThumanities NYUAD webinar February 5, 2021.

Respondent, “Does Energy Cause Ethnic War? East Mediterranean and Caspian Sea Natural Gas and Regional Conflicts,” Andreas Stergiou, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics University of Thessaly, Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton University, February 28, 2020.

Embracing the Dragon: Greece Becomes the 17th plus 1,” Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS), European Union Program, The Paul Sarbanes ’54 Fund for Hellenism and Public Service, Princeton University, February 25, 2020.

Showdown in Djibouti: Geopolitics in the BRI Era,” Port City Environments in Global Asia
Second Annual Conference, NYUAD, January 16, 2020.

“How can Ethiopia help bring Europe and China closer together in light of the BRI?”  United Nations Conference Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 28, 2019, Jean Monnet Network: The European Union, Africa and China in the Global Age.

“Shifting power landscapes: Europe and China seeking a new modus operandi as one belt one road policy unfolds,” NYU Shanghai, April 8 2019.

“City Environments around the Globe: A Multidisciplinary Research, Teaching and Exchange Project,” NYUAD eARThumanities – RCC/LMU conference, Abu Dhabi, February 10-11, 2019, (conference organizer and convener)

Energy Outlook 2019: The Year of Transition, Gulf Intelligence UAE Forum 2019 “Kick off 2020 – Countdown to the Presidential Election?” in conversation with Frank Luntz, Abu Dhabi, January 9, 2019.

Environmental Pasts – Environmental Futures: Perspectives on China
Workshop at Peking University November 24, 2018, “Global Environmental Visions and Governance: Perspectives on China’s Relationship with the European Union,” part of the 4th Scientific Forum of LMU’s China Academic Network (ChAN).

“Geostrategic and Institutional Implications of the expansion of China’s belt and road initiative into the European Union,” Central Bank of Hungary, October 25, 2018, Budapest, Hungary.

“Rare Earths Revisited: The US-China Trade War,” October 24, 2018, Budapest, Hungary.

International Conference on Environmental Humanities, Stories, Myths, and Arts to Envision a Change, Instituto Franklin, Alcalá de Henares, Alcalá Spain, July 3-6 2018, “An Environmental Humanities Pedagogy of Radical Hope: A Collaborative Approach to Inspiriting Sustainability Transformations.”

Environmental Humanities Summit, Schloss Hohenkammer GmbH, 29 June-1 July, 2018.

“Beyond Climate Change: Shaping the Future of Humanity,” NYU Global Leadership Summit, NYU Shanghai, May 18-20, 2018. (organizational team and speaker)

Oberseminar, “History, Culture, Environment,” Studienhaus Gut Schönwag, Germany 4-6 May, 2018.

The Art of Conversation on Climate,” interview with Matthew Corcoran, NYUAD, February 28, 2018.

Jean Monnet Network ‘The European Union, Africa and China in the Global Age’ (EU-EAC), “Training and Dialogue on Regional Integration”, Tuesday 27 February 2018, Kampala, Uganda.

“China’s Belt and Road: In or out of step with the Anthropocene?” NYUAD eARThumanities – RCC conference, Abu Dhabi, February 2018 (conference organizer and convener)

Author Meets Critics: National Hellenic Research Foundation, “Καινοτόμες τεχνολογίες, κυκλική οικονομία, σπάνιες γαίες και ο παράγοντας Κίνα για την Ελλάδα και τον κόσμο” (Innovative Technologies, the circular economy, rare earths and the China factor for Greece and the World), organized jointly by the Center for Research and Technology Hellas and the Institute of International Economic Relations, January 17, 2018, Athens, Greece.

“Recurring Earthquakes and the Rebirth of Hope,” Workshop of Radical Hope, The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU, Munich, Germany, July 3, 2017.

“OPEC and the Global Energy Order: From its Origins to the Present Time,”
NYU Abu Dhabi, 18-20 April 2017.

“Millennials Are Not Ready to Takeover Oil & Gas Industry from the Baby Boomers,” The 8th Gulf Intelligence UAE Energy Forum, Knowledge Debate Series, Abu Dhabi, UAE, January 11, 2017.

“River Rights and the Rights of Rivers: The Case of Acheloos,” Rights of Nature in Transatlantic Perspective Conference, The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU, Munich, Germany, July 20, 2016.

“Cherry picking migrants: The Talented and the Others,” ESCP Conference on the Race for Global Talent, Paris, June 8, 2016.

“Η Αλλη Μέση Ανατολή: Η Ελλάδα και οι Χώρες του Περσικού Κόλπου,” (The other Middle East: Greece and the GCC), Ινστιτούτο Διεθνών Οικονομικών Σχέσεων (Institute of International Economic Relations), Athens, June 6, 2016.

“China: How the environmental crisis makes transition to a low carbon economy the only way forward,” Academic Lecture, University of the Peloponnese, Jean Monnet Program of International Affairs, April 1, 2016.

“Women in Energy: How to Accelerate Progress," The Qatar SHELL IPTC 2015 Knowledge Series, Doha, December 2015.

“The Mysteries of the Stymphalian Lake,” Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, Athens, October 2015.

“From Brussels to Beijing: A Budding Relationship to Shape the Anthropocene?” Colloquium, Rachel Carson Center, July 2015, Munich, Germany

“The Geopolitics of Rare Earths,” Office of Strategic Affairs, Crown Prince Court, Abu Dhabi, March 2015.

“Carbon Initiatives and Global Economy,” at the The ADNOC WFES Knowledge Forum, Abu Dhabi, January 2015.

“US-China Climate Change Agreement: Historic, Pivotal or merely a good headline?” Energy Developments in a changing world: Political, economic and legal realignments, Conference at NYUAD, January 2015.

“The outcome of the Greek Elections and the ongoing Euro Crisis,” Boenning and Scattergood Lecture, January 2015.

“How can the Energy Industry Help STEM the Global Talent Challenge?” The SHELL Knowledge Forum, November 13, 2014, ADIPEC, Abu Dhabi.

“Climate Change and the Global Debate on Green Growth,” University of Piraeus, Masters of Energy Program, Greece, October 2014.

“And the Strong will inherit the Earths: China’s Strategy for Cornering the Rare Earths Market”, NYU Abu Dhabi (2012)

“Is the European Economic Crisis Overshadowing Efforts to Combat Climate Change?” Columbia University Seminar for Legal, Social and Economic Environmental Issues, Columbia University (2011)

“The Greek Debt Crisis and the Future of the Greek Banking System,” the Boenning and Scattergood Lecture, NYC (2011)

“The EU Response to Climate Change: A Paradigm of Leadership?” University of Thessaloniki (2010)

“Creating a Sustainable Athens for the 21st century,” NYU (2010)

“The Challenges of Ecosystem Management” with Shelby White, Leon Levy Foundation, NYU (2010)