Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs

10/13/2026

What global affairs topic or question should we explore at our spring 2028 Global Affairs Leadership Symposium?

Each year, our Global Affairs Leadership Fellows help design and lead a public symposium that brings together policymakers, scholars, and industry leaders to examine pressing global challenges. We’re inviting Northwestern University students to propose a compelling question or issue in global affairs that could spark meaningful conversation and bring together a range of perspectives.

💡 Share your ideas by Sunday, November 15: http://spr.ly/6184BH1Mby
👥 Learn more about our Global Leadership Fellowship: http://spr.ly/6189BH1Mb3

10/12/2026

Join us at the November featuring Raphael Scheu, MD, MPhil, from the University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany.

🗓️ Wed, Nov 4
⌚️ 1 PM - 2 PM CT
💻 Zoom webinar: http://spr.ly/6187BGmUzd

Raphael Scheu, MD, MPhil, is a resident physician in microbiology and infectious diseases at the University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany. He previously worked at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and completed a master's in Health Data Science. He is interested in global neurology and infectious disease modelling.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Global Neurology.

10/08/2026

Cities are increasingly becoming frontline actors in addressing challenges that are global in origin but local in impact. Join the Roberta Buffett Institute and the Polish Consulate in Chicago for a conversation with Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw, on how urban leadership can strengthen democratic resilience, respond to crises, and support international cooperation.

📅 Friday, October 16
🕧 12:30–1:45 p.m. CT (GMT-6)
📍 720 University Place or online via Zoom
🔗 Register: https://events.humanitix.com/cities-in-a-world-of-disruption-democracy-resilience-and-the-new-role-of-urban-leadership?c=socialmedia

10/06/2026

How are African countries navigating an increasingly competitive and multipolar world?

Tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. CDT, join Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Frances Brown, SOAS University of London's Adam Habib, Northwestern University's Richard Joseph, and Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri for a conversation on Africa’s place in a changing global order.

This program is presented in partnership with SOAS University of London. Register to attend in-person or virtually: https://bit.ly/4iOoY4i

09/22/2026

From global public health to African sovereignty and the International Criminal Court, hear from Northwestern University faculty experts at our 2026–27 Buffett First Friday Lunch series. Northwestern students, faculty, and staff are invited to join the Roberta Buffett Institute for a faculty talk designed for a broad, multidisciplinary audience, followed by a conversational Q&A.

This year’s lineup:

🍂 November: The Yemeni Women Fighting to Preserve Their Heritage with Medill School of Journalism's Brent Huffman
How are women working to preserve Yemen’s heritage amid war, looting, and climate change?

⛄️ January: Partnering to Tackle Public Health Crises: Viral Hepatitis as a Case Study with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine's Claudia Hawkins
How can partnerships between communities, institutions, and research networks improve infection prevention and treatment?

❄️ February: Art, Archives and African Sovereignty with Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy's Sally Nuamah
Can artist-led cultural movements offer genuine independence, or do they risk reproducing systems of extraction?

🌱 March: Above the Law: The U.S. and the International Criminal Court with Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences' Daniel Krcmaric
Why has the United States spent decades at odds with the world’s leading war crimes tribunal?

🌸 April: The Global Energy Transition with McCormick School of Engineering's Sossina Haile
Can a carbon-free energy future be built from materials the earth already has in abundance?

🌷 May: From Oil Barrels to Pipelines: Citizenship and Political Life in Nigeria with Northwestern University School of Communication & Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences' Dotun Ayobade
What can Nigeria’s retired oil barrels tell us about citizenship and political life?

📅 First Friday of each month from 12:30–1:45 p.m.
🚪 Doors open at 12:00 p.m., and lunch begins at 12:15 p.m.
📍 720 University Place, Second floor
🔑 Wildcard required for building access
🔗 Learn more: https://buffett.northwestern.edu/events/first-friday-lunches.html

09/20/2026

Join the Roberta Buffett Institute's Defusing Disasters Global Working Group for a special Photovoice exhibition and StoryMap launch featuring photographs and stories captured by Chicago residents about their experiences with summer heat. These images offer a powerful look at how extreme heat shapes our neighborhoods, families, and daily lives—and how community perspectives are helping inform the development of Chicago's Heat Vulnerability Index. Explore the exhibition, reflect on the stories behind the photographs, and learn how community voices are contributing to research that can support healthier, more resilient neighborhoods.

🔗 Register to attend on October 3 or October 24: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJ91w04EIfG9m6Qs_jAHRoGjdLMdCaIjz0Uw8DggCTZTdbaw/viewform
📅 October 3 from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
📍Chicago Public Library Little Italy Branch, 1336 W. Taylor St.

📅 October 24 from 10 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
📍 Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Community Center, 4822 S. Cottage Grove

09/19/2026

"Northwestern gave me the opportunity to study theater and international relations — a rare combination. And Buffett gave me the opportunity to develop expertise in a profession that exists at the intersection of those fields. It showed me that the career I had always hoped existed was actually possible," said Anne-Sophie Lacombe García, Buffett Post-Baccalaureate Fellow. She spent eight months in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, working with Broadway Across Borders to produce "Be More Chill," the first Broadway musical fully translated into Bosnian in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Read her reflection: https://magazine.northwestern.edu/voices/anne-sophie-lacombe-garcia-broadway-across-borders-theater-bosnia-herzegovina

09/18/2026

Calling all attending the United Nations General Assembly in NYC: Nuclear non-proliferation is of ever-increasing importance in an era of AI-empowered bad actors and rogue agents. Join an intergenerational discussion, including Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs undergraduate Liana Liu Ioannides, to understand how we can draw on the lessons of the past to inform effective disarmament action today and work actively to prevent the threats of tomorrow.

🗓️ Friday, September 25 from 11:30 - 11:50 AM EDT

📍 SDG Media Zone or online via https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1a1w8lw8t

🗣️ Speakers also include:
▪️ Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
▪️ Frank Chi, director of the new documentary 80 is the Most Dangerous Anniversary, which follows a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) and a downwinder (impacted by radioactive fallout from nuclear testing) as they meet for the first time at the UN.
▪️ Spencer Cohen of The New York Times will moderate.

09/18/2026

How has China's political and information environment evolved in recent years, and what challenges do reporters working in the region encounter? Join us for a conversation between journalist and author James Griffiths and the Northwestern University School of Communications' Yingdan Lu. Griffiths will draw on his 14 years reporting from more than a dozen countries across Asia and share insights from his career, including as Asia correspondent and bureau chief for Canada’s national newspaper "The Globe and Mail" and senior producer for CNN International.

📅 Tuesday, September 29 from 12:30–1:45 p.m. CT
📍 720 University Place or online via Zoom
👥 Doors open at 12:00 p.m., and lunch begins at 12:15 p.m.
🔗 Register:

The Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs generates new knowledge about pressing global challenges and promising solutions for addressing them.