The Center for Global Affairs at NYU

10/16/2026

Non-Resident Visiting Fellow Highlight: Hendrik Ohnesorge

Hendrik Ohnesorge is Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Political Science and Managing Director of the Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn. His research focuses on International Relations theory, global power shifts and soft power, German and European foreign and security policy, transatlantic relations and U.S. foreign policy, and charismatic leadership and individual agency in international affairs.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Münster and a Master’s degree from the University of Bonn. He completed his PhD in Political Science summa cm laude as valedictorian of the Faculty of Arts Class 2018/19. In January 2025, he completed his habilitation and was bestowed the Venia Legendi as Privatdozent.

He has held guest lectureships at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano, Universiteit Leiden, and the University of St Andrews. In addition to currently serving as a Non-Resident Visiting Fellow at the NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs, he was also a visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University. Hendrik is the author of eleven books and more than thirty journal articles and book chapters.

🔗Click here to learn more about Hendrik and our other Non-Resident Visiting Fellows: https://bit.ly/4AzRKfC

10/14/2026

The Center for Global Affairs at NYU Professor and Director of the NYU SPS Global Energy, Climate, and Sustainability Lab, Amy Jaffe, was interviewed by NPR's The Middle with Jeremy Hobson about how the rapid expansion of AI-powered data centers is raising concerns about rising electricity costs, water consumption, and environmental impacts, while also creating opportunities for jobs and economic development

Watch/listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMtwQMygOM

NYU School of Professional Studies

Data centers are popping up across the country to power the artific...

10/14/2026

Non-Resident Visiting Fellow Highlight: Tanisha Hewanpola

Tanisha Hewanpola is a foreign policy expert and public service leader with 20 years of
experience across the United Nations and Australian Government. She is a Political Affairs Officer in the Offices of the Under-Secretaries-General for the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, where she advises senior leaders on inclusive conflict prevention, ceasefires, peace and political processes.

Previously, Tanisha served as an Australian diplomat, representing Australia in bilateral engagements in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America and in multilateralnegotiations, including on the UN Security Council. She later served as Speechwriter and Senior Adviser to the President of the 71st UN General Assembly. Her career has spanned peace and security, human rights, crisis response, trade and economic affairs, and international law.

Tanisha has taught international policy at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, where she was a John L. Weinberg Fellow and received her Master in Public Policy. She is also a qualified barrister and solicitor in Australia.

🔗Click here to learn more about Tanisha and our other Non-Resident Visiting Fellows: https://bit.ly/4AzRKfC

10/12/2026

Non-Resident Visiting Fellow Highlight: Calin Trenkov-Wermuth

Calin Trenkov-Wermuth is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Oxyria Group, a geopolitical risk and strategic advisory firm, with more than twenty years' experience advising senior U.S., UN, NATO, and EU officials on international security challenges.

At the United States Institute of Peace, he led the Security Sector Governance team, with extensive work in Ukraine from 2022–2025, and he directed U.S. Department of Defense–funded strategic evaluations of U.S. security cooperation. Earlier, at the United Nations, he was lead author of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact and served in its Office of Counter-Terrorism and Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

He has held research positions at the EU Institute for Security Studies, RAND, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and has taught at Cambridge, Columbia, NYU, West Point, and Hamilton College. Calin is the author of United Nations Justice (UN University Press), with recent work in the Journal of Democracy, Foreign Affairs.

He holds a PhD and MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and an AB from Hamilton College.

🔗Click here to learn more about Calin and our other Non-Resident Visiting Fellows: https://bit.ly/4AzRKfC

10/11/2026

📣 We have some exciting events coming up!

➡️ RSVP via the links below!

- Tuesday, October 13 - Advancing Disaster Risk Reduction in a Changing World: Lessons Learned from the Past in the U.S. and Japan—and Investments for the Future - In-person NYU Community event.
RSVP: https://bit.ly/46xqD7i

- Wednesday, October 14 - Careers in Sustainability - In-person Public event.
RSVP: https://bit.ly/4AECFtp

- Wednesday, October 21 - Is it time to merge? - Virtual public webinar.
RSVP: https://bit.ly/3TzBwma

- Thursday, October 22nd - Navigating Global Challenges—Rethinking Readiness with Jeff Schlegelmilch
RSVP: https://bit.ly/4yrw182

10/10/2026

Non-Resident Visiting Fellow Highlight: Xiaoyue (Rockie) Zhao

Xiaoyue (Rockie) Zhao is an international development and disability inclusion professional with over a decade of experience across education and the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as Manager of Global Development and Government Relations at Special Olympics East Asia, where she develops partnerships with the United Nations, governments, academic institutions, and the private sector to advance the inclusion and meaningful participation of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Her work focuses on inclusive education, youth engagement and Special Olympics athlete leadership, employment, gender, and digital inclusion. Prior to joining the Special Olympics, she worked as a special education teacher for five years. Xiaoyue holds an MS in Global Affairs from New York University and a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

🔗Click here to learn more about Xiaoyue and our other Non-Resident Visiting Fellows: https://bit.ly/4AzRKfC

10/08/2026

The Center for Global Affairs at NYU Professor and Director of the NYU SPS Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, Amy Jaffe, is quoted in an S&P Global Energy article about how major U.S. oil and gas companies are scaling back or reconsidering their long-term net-zero emissions targets amid geopolitical uncertainty, shifting climate policies, and concerns about the feasibility of low-carbon investments.

"'The collapse of the voluntary offsets market and the collapse in volume of the voluntary offsets market was really probably more material to companies changing how they spoke about net-zero than changes in political or economic views of climate change,' Jaffe said."

Read more: https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/natural-gas/092826-path-to-net-zero-us-oil-majors-cast-doubt-on-feasibility-of-net-zero-by-2050

NYU School of Professional Studies

This is the fifth in a multi-part series on net-zero efforts across industries. The previous article can be found here. Some of the largest US oil and gas companies appear to be growing increasingly doubtful that a net-zero future is attainable by the middle of the century. Among the top 30 US compa...

10/08/2026

Non-Resident Visiting Fellow Highlight: Leland Lazarus

Leland Lazarus is the Founder and CEO of Lazarus Consulting LLC, an international geopolitical risk firm specializing in U.S.-China relations and China’s engagement in the Western Hemisphere. A renowned expert on China-Latin American relations, he has testified before Congress multiple times about China’s national security threats in Latin America, and taught U.S.-China relations and Chinese foreign policy at Florida International University.

Lazarus served as the Special Assistant and Speechwriter to two four-star Commanders of U.S. Southern Command (Department of Defense), where he advised on SOUTHCOM’s counter-China strategy. He was also a State Department diplomat in China and the Caribbean, representing U.S. interests and telling America’s story overseas.

Lazarus is the President and Chair of the Fulbright Association, which represents 400,000 Fulbright alumni around the world. He holds affiliations with the Council on Foreign Relations Term Member, the National Committee on US-China Relations, and the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. His articles and commentary have appeared in NBC News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Univision, Telemundo, The Miami Herald, Foreign Policy Magazine, and various international outlets.

🔗Click here to learn more about Leland and our other Non-Resident Visiting Fellows: https://bit.ly/4AzRKfC

10/06/2026

Non-Resident Visiting Fellow Highlight: Lina Ma

Lina Ma is a Chinese-born, New York-based freelance journalist and researcher covering gender, digital culture, and social change in contemporary China. She is a regular contributor to Asian-Pacific news website The Diplomat, and her work has also appeared in Global Voices and The New York Times (letter).

She holds an M.S. in Global Affairs from New York University and a B.A. in Translation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

🔗Click here to learn more about Lina and our other Non-Resident Visiting Fellows: https://bit.ly/4AzRKfC

10/05/2026

The Panama Canal is a historic and audacious feat, a pathway connecting east to west and a potential chokepoint of globalization.

Led by Professor Chloe Demrovsky, the Panama GFI offers an inspiring, up-close case study of how the world is linking and delinking in the 21st century.

Through an immersive geoeconomic lens, students will assess the security implications of Panama’s critical positioning, explore how it leverages its unique relationship to the U.S., and examine how this dynamic country capitalizes on its geography to influence global trade, offshore capital flows, and regional human migration—all while confronting climate threats to its natural assets.

Virtual Information Session:
Thursday, October 15
10:00AM - 10:30AM ET

🔗Click here to RSVP for the information session: https://bit.ly/4hZCP77