Centre for Security Studies webinar: Can the United Nations still play a role in peace and security?

In this webinar, organised by the Centre for Security Studies (CSS), we will discuss the relevance or irrelevance of the United Nations to current peace and security challenges with three external experts - Mr Eugene Chen, Prof Sara Hellmüller and Dr Giulio Levorato. The event is open to all Loughborough staff, doctoral students and postgraduate and undergraduate students with an interest in international peace and security issues.

Join the Microsoft Teams session. Meeting ID: 349 784 531 638 949. Passcode: hc9Fi2pR.

Mr Eugene Chen

Eugene Chen is currently a PhD candidate at Kings College, a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation and a Senior Non-resident Adviser at the International Peace Institute. Prior to joining the academia, Eugene served in various roles in the UN, including in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti, the Department of Field Support, and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and as an advisor at the US Mission to the UN. He regularly blogs about UN operations and UN reform at Blue Helmets, Red Tape.

Prof Sara Hellmüller

Sara Hellmüller is a Research Professor in the International Relations and Political Science Department at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She has over a decade of experience in conflict-affected contexts, particularly in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and has led on numerous research projects focusing on the UN and its role in peace and security. She is currently the PI of a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) project focusing on belligerents’ consent to UN peace missions. As part of her previous collaborative research, she established a comprehensive dataset on UN peace mission mandates, the UNPMM. Sara has collaborated with international and Swiss policy-makers. In particular, she co-managed a project on civil society inclusion with the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Syria from 2016 to 2018.

Dr Giulio Levorato

Giulio Levorato is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University and a member of the War, Peace & Justice research group at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. His research focuses on conflict management and resolution strategies employed by a range of actors, including nation-states, international organisations, local communities, and armed groups. He has recently published his first monograph Liberal Peacebuilding in Times of Change: The UN, the EU, and the Politics of Continuity, which is available Open Access on the Routledge website.