The 2025–26 academic year was a busy one for the Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs (IDIA). Through lectures, field trips, simulations, research publications, student-led activities and alumni achievements, the Institute continued to bring together both academic research and the practice of diplomacy and international affairs. In this review, I look back month by month at some of the highlights of the past year.  

September/October 2025 

The academic year began at the end of September with induction activities for the new September cohort. In October, Visiting Fellow Dorina Baltag posted a blog about Moldova After Elections: Between Europe and the Echoes of the East (Past), examining Moldova’s position between European integration and continuing Russian influence. Students then visited Chatham House for Will Iran Rearm or Reform? a discussion of Iran, nuclear diplomacy and shifting regional alliances; Rashane Jude Pintoe later reflected on the visit in a blog post, Will Iran Rearm or Reform? IDIA Students Explore Regional Diplomacy at Chatham House. The Institute held an IDIA student social at Hackney Bridge, an IDIA doctoral-student catch-up, and the first IDIA Writing Gym. Students also took part in a City-diplomacy simulation with Lesley Masters, developing international strategies and public-diplomacy campaigns for three cities. 

November 2025 

Dr Neil Mortimer’s blog post Understanding How Governments Learn in Crisis: New Insights from Australia’s COVID-19 Response introduced his doctoral work on policy learning during crisis, while Tim Oliver’s Foreign Policy through English Eyes covered his research on differing views in England and Scotland and the implications for UK foreign policy. We held out second IDIA Writing Gym and Meet Your 2025/2026 IDIA Institute Representatives: Glory James and Nadeen Maher introduced the year’s student representatives. Dr Benjamin Abrams (UCL) delivered a talk on A Hungarian Blueprint for American Politics?, comparing contemporary US political change with democratic backsliding in Hungary. Students Céline Erciyas and Sam Lynch reflected on an Arsenal–Chelsea match in Lessons from a London Derby: The UK Is Doing Women’s Football Right. The month also included a Careers Insight event marking ten years of Loughborough University London and a practical Toy-safety treaty negotiation simulation, in which students balanced national priorities while negotiating a shared legal framework.

December 2025 

Christmas brought the autumn term to a close with Rashane Jude Pintoe penning a blog post on Abrams’s lecture, A Hungarian Blueprint for American Politics: Insights from Dr Benjamin Abrams’s Lecture at IDIA, while Nadeen Maher Mohamed described the negotiation exercise in Inside Our Toy Safety Treaty Negotiation Simulation. The month also saw the IDIA winter graduation, at which Anna Ligęzowska received both the IDIA Dissertation Prize and the Dean’s Dissertation Prize, with Imannur Gül also receiving an IDIA award. 

January 2026 

The new year began with us welcoming our January intake, and with students and staff attending the Eightieth-anniversary commemoration of the first United Nations General Assembly at Central Hall Westminster, where the first General Assembly met in 1946. Students also attended a Canada House event on sport and the Sustainable Development Goals, considering how sport’s contribution to the SDGs can be measured. The Institute published Celebrating Excellence: IDIA Graduates Honoured at Loughborough University, an account of the winter graduation, and Anna Ligęzowska reflected on her prize-winning research in Fragile Peace, Persistent Systems: What My Master’s Dissertation Taught Me about Child Recruitment in Colombia. January also brought the appointment of Dr Adam Steinhouse as an IDIA Visiting Fellow, adding his experience of diplomacy, government training and European studies to the Institute’s work. 

In January, a farewell event was also organised for the 2025 January starters with Glory James and Nadeen Maher taking the lead on planning. It was an evening of reflection, celebration, and an opportunity to commemorate their journey and achievements. 

February 2026 

February was a busy month, with the highlight being the IDIA Celebrates event bringing together more than 50 former students, staff and friends of IDIA to celebrate both the London school’s ten-year anniversary and Professor Helen Drake’s thirty years at Loughborough University. Rashane Jude Pintoe wrote a post about 80 Years of the United Nations General Assembly: IDIA Students at a Historic UNGA Commemoration, while Céline Erciyas wrote Reflections from Canada House: Measuring Sport’s Contribution to the SDGs. Dr Felix Berenskötter (KCL) delivered a talk on Friendship in International Diplomacy, which Rashane Jude Pintoe wrote about in a blog post. Alumni research was showcased through Imannur Gül’s Framing Türkiye in European Security Discourse: Insights from a master’s Dissertation and In Conversation with Anna Ligęzowska, Winner of the Dean’s Dissertation Prize, an interview conducted by Tim Oliver. Visiting Fellow Dorina Baltag participated in a Moldova post-electoral conference and subsequently published a post about Democracy at the Ballot Box: Moldova’s Post-Electoral Reflection. IDIA also contributed a dedicated session to the Loughborough London Research and Innovation Day. 

March 2026 

March began with Venthan Kathiramalai reflecting on a communication workshop he and other students organised in The Two Sides of the Moon: What an Evening About Communication Taught Me. Klaus Welle, former Secretary-General of the European Parliament, delivered a lecture on the transatlantic alliance and Europe’s changing strategic environment; Rashane Jude Pintoe later discussed it in a blog post Recalibrating the Transatlantic Alliance: Insights from Klaus Welle’s Lecture. Mtendere Nara Horea reported at a guest lecture by Klisman Murati in Geoeconomics in Practice: State Power and Trade in the Global Economy. Doctoral researchers explored entrepreneurship, self-employment and postdoctoral pathways during the Doctoral event on the small business side of academic life. March also saw the launch of a regular video update on our LinkedIn page, Ideas from IDIA, recorded by Institute Director Tim Oliver, which covered news, research, events, books and topical debates. And Professor Helen Drake and Visiting Fellow Monika Brusenbauch Meislová were both elected Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences. 

April 2026 

In April Loughborough London hosted the 2026 Chevening Conference, with IDIA leading the planning and organisation with Chevening. 170 of the nearly 2,000 Chevening scholars joined us where they were welcomed by Nicolette Stoddart, Deputy Director of Scholarships and Soft Power at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University and Professor Richard Giulianotti, co-lead of the UNESCO Chair in Sport, Physical Activity and Education for Development, who delivered the keynote address. Rashane Jude Pintoe wrote about The New Islamic State Offshoot That Europe Fears – Except Britain? examining Islamic State Khorasan Province and the UK’s approach to proscription. He also wrote about Online Extremism at an International Counterterrorism Conference in Tashkent, a conference in Uzbekistan organised by the FCDO and the University of World Economy and Diplomacy. The Institute held another IDIA Writing Gym and students joined a Student and cross-institute football activity. IDIA also announced it would be playing a leading role in OWN-EU, a Horizon Europe project, with Cristian Nitoiu serving as Scientific Director of the three-year project on political ownership, territorial capital and successful EU enlargement. 

May 2026 

In May, IDIA students, alumni and friends joined a field trip to a depolarisation workshop at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in the City of London, exploring dialogue, reconciliation and communication across divides. Former Norwegian minister and former UN Environment Programme Executive Director Erik Solheim delivered a Guest lecture on diplomacy, development and global challenges. Professor Mark Bevir spoke on A Genealogy of Governance, tracing the development of ideas about the state, authority, and public policy. IDIA also hosted a roundtable launching Diplomatic Training: Histories, Geographies, Politics, marking publication of the Manchester University Press volume. Student Naomi Osuoza reflected on the St Ethelburga’s visit in De-Polarisation in Practice, while Tim Oliver summarised Bevir’s lecture in A Genealogy of Governance with Professor Mark Bevir. 

June 2026 

As summer approached, student representatives Glory James and Nadeen Maher organised the IDIA farewell ball for the September cohort. Students and alumni attended the UNA-UK event The Leader the World Needs: Appointing the Next Secretary-General, where proposed candidates discussed their visions for the UN’s top role. Venthan Kathiramalai reflected on the event with Erik Solheim on Diplomacy, Development and Global Challenges. Ten years after the referendum, IDIA hosted the online panel Brexit Revisited, featuring Tim Oliver, Caroline Kennedy-Pipe, Gerhard Schnyder, Graham Hitchen and Borja García García; Tim Oliver later wrote about the discussion in Brexit Revisited: Marking Ten Years Since Britain Voted to Leave the EU. The Institute also supported The Role of Sport in the Changing Geopolitical Order, examining how international change is reshaping sport and policy. An IDIA student-experience video captured students’ reflections on friendship, community and study, while Anna Ligęzowska received a Special Commendation in the 2026 New Voices in Cultural Relations Prize for her dissertation on child recruitment in Colombia. 

July 2026 

The summer semester began with Tim Oliver writing a blog post on The Tragedy of Brexit Is That Britain Was the EU’s Most Effective Member State, in which he challenged the familiar description of the UK as the EU’s awkward partner. During an IDIA staff away-day at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, staff toured the Academy and discussed leadership and military education with officer cadets. Tim Oliver also represented IDIA at the Chatham House London Conference, whose programme considered NATO, global economic governance and the future of international law. The Summer graduation celebrated students including Dr Andrew Hegarty, Rashane Jude Pintoe, Richard Yarboi, Mohammed Al-Shaibah and Arnaud Anangga.  

Recurring activities across the year 

Each IDIA module includes an Inside the Profession practitioner lecture, and many include institutional visits, workshops, simulations and professional-development activities that connect academic learning with professional practice. The Ideas from IDIA for regular video updates and polls share Institute news, research, readings, forthcoming events and topical questions. As institutional members of Chatham House, our staff and students regularly attend talks and conferences. Each assessment week is accompanied by a Writing Gym. Our Student Reps, Gloria and Nadeen, have organised many socials, football, and some brilliant student-produced videos. We regularly celebrate student and alumni research through posts on dissertations, prizes, publications, and professional achievements. IDIA staff and fellows contribute to the school’s work as a research-intensive part of the university, working with our sister department, IRPH, in the East Midlands campus on events and activities (especially in preparation for the next Research Excellence Framework), the IRPH Centre for Security Studies, the Policy Unit (the university’s think tank), Cristian and Nicola’s part in the OWN-EU Horizon project, and by playing a part in the school’s research hubs, especially the Policy, Sport and Geopolitics in an Unstable World Research Hub.