Our Events

Olivier Chamard / Geneva Academy

We run various private and public events – conferences, workshops, seminars, roundtables – providing a critical and scholarly forum for discussion around topical issues. The livestreaming of flagship events allows audiences outside Geneva to follow debates and participate via social media. Most public events can also be viewed afterwards via our YouTube channel.

IHL Talks

The IHL Talks are a series of events on international humanitarian law and current humanitarian topics. Every two months, at lunchtime, academic experts, practitioners, policy-makers and journalists discuss burning humanitarian issues and their regulation under international law. This Initiative is coordinated by Annyssa Bellal.

Current Issues in Armed Conflict Annual Conference

This annual conference, co-organized with the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex, provides a space for experts and practitioners, diplomats, academics, and civil society representatives to discuss the legal and policy issues that have arisen in the past and current year in relation to armed conflicts situations. Its content is modelled after the latest edition of the War Report.

Military Briefings

The Military Briefings, a unique series of events relating to military institutions and the law, aim to improve our students’ knowledge of military actors and operations and build bridges between the military and civilian worlds. Military guests – on active duty, retired or from the reserve – will discuss military institutions, their missions as well as operational and legal challenges they face in their daily work. Each briefing is divided into two parts: a presentation aimed at equipping students with basic knowledge on the selected theme, and a discussion, where the guest speaker engages with students on the challenges raised by the theme. This initiative is coordinated by Pavle Kilibarda and Elvina Pothelet.

The Military Briefings address six themes:

1. Military organization and operational decision-making
2. Operational law
3. Integration of the law in military training
4. Practical examples of legal challenges in operations
5. Military justice
6. Weapons systems

Geneva Academy Wednesdays

The Geneva Academy Wednesdays (GAWs) are a platform coordinated by a group of Geneva Academy teaching assistants – George Dvalaze, Firouzeh Mitchell and Alessandra Spadaro – to foster the exchange of ideas and the creation of a scholarly network among PhD students from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva who conduct research on areas within the scientific focus of the Geneva Academy (i.e. international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international criminal law, international refugee law, transitional justice, selected public international law topics, etc.).

The GAWs take place on Wednesdays in the format of roundtables closed to the general public. One or more PhD students from the Graduate Institute or the University of Geneva can present their ideas, outlines, working papers or draft thesis chapters in an informal way and receive constructive feedback on them from their peers (and, optionally, from a main discussant) in a respectful and welcoming setting.

Those interested in presenting their work and/or in attending the next series of GAWs can subscribe to the GAW mailing list. The organizers can be contacted for specific questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Platform on Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)

The platform on improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is designed to bring together policymakers and practitioners from governments, international organizations, NGOs, the military, law enforcement and academia to address the thread, use and consequences of the worldwide employment of IEDs, and to advance the international agenda for countering them. Partners include the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and Action on Armed Violence (AOAV). An expert form Chatham House has also been participating, since the inception of the platform, in conceptualizing its substance.

The objective is to lead informal discussions for future international action to address IEDs and their impact, building on the ‘Food for Thought’ paper circulated by the Co-Coordinators on IEDs of the Informal Group of Experts under Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), as well as other existing resources.The platform also aims at acting as a bridge builder between Geneva and New-York (Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and UN General Assembly) and between all UN agencies active in countering IEDs.

Annual meetings of the platform are conducted under Villa Moynier Rules – more restrictive than the Chatham House Rule – to allow full cooperation and a higher degree of informality and interactivity among participants.

This initiative is coordinated by Kamelia Kemileva.