Register now to reserve your place in our specialised winter courses!
👉🏼 Application deadlines for certificates issued by Diplo: 26 January 2026
For further information and to apply, click the course titles above or visit Diplo Academy’s course catalogue.
◆ Need financial assistance? Scholarships are available!
Thanks to support from the government of Malta, partial scholarships are available for applicants from developing countries to attend upcoming Diplo online courses. These scholarships cover 30%–60% of course fees and can be applied to most 2026 online courses. Browse our course catalogue and contact us at admissions@diplomacy.edufor further information.
Upcoming events
◆ 11th Geneva Engage Awards (3 Feb.)
Join us on 3 February 2026 for another edition of the Geneva Engage Awards, where we celebrate the remarkable efforts of International Geneva actors in digital outreach and online engagement under our slogan #Engage2Connect.
This year, we will also take a closer look at how organisations in Geneva are using AI for communication, outreach, and mission support. Learn more and register to attend in situ!
Main takeaways from our recent events
◆ Forecast 2026: AI and Digital Developments
Watch the recording of the 2026 forecast with Dr Jovan Kurbalija, which opened the year with a forward-looking discussion on the future of AI and digital policy.
Blogs and publications
◆ 10 Swiss values and practices for AI and digitalisation in 2026
In 2026, Switzerland, like societies worldwide, faces an uncertain AI transformation. A lot is at stake, and very little is known about AI’s future trajectory. In the face of growing uncertainty, Switzerland should anchor its transformation in a distinctly Swiss AI Trinity: Zurich’s entrepreneurship, Geneva’s governance, and communal subsidiarity. Read the blog post!
◆ USA’s exit from international organisations leaves digital governance largely unscathed
On 7 January, the USA withdrew from a slate of international organisations and initiatives. Despite the wider retrenchment, the technology and digital governance ecosystem was largely spared. Why is tech treated differently? What changes for digital governance? Read the blog post!
◆ When the professionals leave the room: What the recall of US diplomats signals
The recall of dozens of US diplomats suggests a recalibration of foreign policy. What is the balance between political direction and professional diplomatic execution? Read the blog post!
◆ From classrooms to workflows: How Diplo Academy shaped learning in 2025
Across online courses, institutional training, and flagship innovation in AI education, Diplo Academy in 2025 focused on one central question: how can learning remain rigorous, practical, and inclusive for professionals operating under increasing time and policy pressures? Read the blog post!
◆ Scripts of power: AI governance and the end of science fiction
The article introduces the term ‘science fiction native’ to explain how science fiction shapes today’s AI governance debates and ideas about social contracts.
As global efforts like the UN Pact for the Future move forward, understanding these narratives matters for keeping AI regulation grounded in human responsibility and law. Read the blog post!
◆ The fading of human agency in automated systems
In many domains today, humans remain formally responsible for decisions shaped by automated systems. A civil servant signs off on a risk score, a doctor reviews an algorithmic recommendation, and an engineer monitors a largely self-regulating process. Read the blog post!
◆ From agentic AI to agreement technologies: LLMs as a new layer in diplomatic negotiation
While ‘Agentic AI’ is often framed as a radical break from the past, its core principles – autonomy, negotiation, and trust – have been studied for decades under the banner of Agreement Technologies. Today’s breakthrough is not just about autonomous action; it is about the arrival of Large Language Models (LLMs) as a flexible orchestration layer on top of these established foundations. Read the blog post!
◆ How AI agents are quietly rebuilding the foundations of the global economy
Behind the scenes, autonomous AI agents are moving into the core of economic systems, reshaping workflows, authority, and execution across the global value chain. Read the DW analysis!
◆ Inside NeurIPS 2025: How AI research is shifting focus from scale to understanding
This year’s NeurIPS awards highlight a shift in AI research, focusing less on bigger models and more on understanding how systems learn, generalise, and behave responsibly. Read the DW analysis!
◆ In memoriam: Muriel Alapini
We are deeply saddened and profoundly shaken by the passing of Muriel Alapini, a dear colleague and a distinguished internet governance enthusiast and activist. Remembering Muriel Alapini
◆ Clash of civilisations up close: The case of Pakistan
The partition of India was not historically inevitable, but a contingent outcome shaped by British strategy, Cold War anxieties, and leadership miscalculations. Read the blog post!
◆ A rethink of the Biological Weapons Convention?
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) bans bioweapons, but without compulsory inspections, it remains far weaker than the nuclear regime. This weakness has become more serious as high-risk biological research moves beyond state programmes. Read the blog post!
◆ DW Weekly #244: Looking ahead: Our annual AI and digital forecast
In the latest issue of the DW Weekly newsletter:
AI and digital forecast
Brussels’ bet on open-source to boost tech sovereignty
