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More than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sanctions remain a central element of Europe’s response. Successive packages have expanded restrictions on Russian energy, finance, trade, technology and military-industrial supply chains, while measures against Belarus reflect its support for Russia’s aggression and the continuing repression carried out by the Lukashenka regime. In this keynote address and moderated discussion, David O’Sullivan will examine how the EU can sustain economic pressure over the long term. The discussion will explore the effectiveness of existing measures, the challenge of sanctions fatigue, the importance of international coordination, and the steps needed to close the enforcement and circumvention gaps that could otherwise weaken Europe’s response. David O’Sullivan has a long and distinguished career in the European Public Services, spanning over four decades and he has served in several senior official posts. Prior to his appointment as Sanctions Envoy, he was the Director-General of the Institute of International and European Affairs. Mr O’Sullivan served as Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to the United States from 2014 to 2019. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to the US, he was Chief Operating Officer of the EU’s new diplomatic service, the European External Action Service. He had previously held a number of senior positions within the European Commission including Director General for Trade (2005-1010), secretary General of the European Commission (2000-2005), and Chief of Staff to Commission President Romano Prodi (1999-2000). Before Joining the Commission, he started his career with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, serving from 1977 to 1979. Mr O’Sullivan is a Member of the Governing Board of the King Baudouin Foundation as well as the European Policy Centre.

In his book Blue Heart, Vice Admiral Mark Mellett (Rtd.), former Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces and former Chief of the Irish Naval Service, argues that the defining crises of the twenty-first century - climate change, energy insecurity, geopolitical instability, food vulnerability, and the erosion of democratic resilience - are converging at sea. Drawing on a lifetime in naval command, international security, and ocean governance, Mellett examines how the ocean has quietly sustained the modern world: regulating climate, absorbing carbon, carrying global trade, supporting food systems and enabling the undersea digital networks on which economies now depend. Yet this vast living system is under mounting pressure from warming waters, biodiversity collapse, overexploitation and intensifying strategic competition. From the North Atlantic to the deep waters west of Ireland, from vulnerable undersea cables to contested energy infrastructure, Blue Heart reveals an ocean becoming both more fragile and more geopolitically significant. Mellett explores the rise of hybrid maritime conflict, the risks posed by failing governance systems, and the profound implications of climate disruption for migration, sovereignty, and global security. He argues that ecological security and human security can no longer be separated, and that we must recover our sense of belonging to nature if we are to protect the blue heart of the planet that keeps us alive. Vice Admiral (Ret.) Mark Mellett is a leader whose career bridges defence, environmental stewardship, and leadership on complex global challenges. The first naval officer appointed as Ireland’s Defence Forces Chief of Staff and the country’s longest-serving defence chief in over fifty years, he has commanded at sea and ashore, with service in the North and South Atlantic, as well as in Afghanistan and Lebanon. Trained at the Royal Naval College Greenwich, the Irish Military Command and Staff College, and the US Naval War College, he has led operations at national and international levels, including Ireland’s military Covid-19 response. He was appointed a Commander of the Légion d’Honneur by the President of the French Republic and was awarded two Distinguished Service Medals by the Irish government. Holding a PhD in Ecosystem-Based Ocean Governance, he founded Green Compass, advising on climate action, ocean sustainability, and strategic risk. He chairs the boards of the Irish Maritime Area Regulatory Authority and Sage Advocacy, Ireland’s National Independent Advocacy Service for older people. He serves as Chair of the Advisory Council of the Azure Contemporary Forum on Security. He is a Life Fellow of the Irish Management Institute, and Co-Council Chair and a founding member of CaraDem, Ireland’s democracy institute.

To mark the UN International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026, Mary Robinson will deliver a keynote address entitled “Women Farmers as Agents of the Change We Need in Farming.”  She will be joined by Sinéad McPhillips, Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, who will chair a panel discussion featuring Hannah Quinn-Mulligan, Professor Karen Keaveney and Aoife Franklyn. The panel will offer their reflections to Mrs Robinson’s address, bringing perspectives from farming, rural development, sustainable food systems and public policy to a discussion of how Ireland can build a more resilient, equitable and sustainable agri-food future.  Mary Robinson is a co-founder of Project Dandelion, which is a women-led global campaign for climate justice, Adjunct Professor for Climate Justice at Trinity College Dublin, and a member of The Elders. She served as President of Ireland from 1990-1997 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002. She is a member of the Club of Madrid and the recipient of numerous honours and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States Barack Obama. Between 2013 and 2016, Mary served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy in three roles; first for the Great Lakes region of Africa, then on Climate Change leading up to the Paris Agreement and in 2016 as his Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate. Her Foundation, the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, established in 2010, came to a planned end in April 2019.  Chair Biography   Sinéad McPhillips was appointed Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on 2nd October 2025. Sinéad entered the public service as a school leaver beginning as an Executive Officer in her current department in 1986. She has also worked in the Department of Energy and as a researcher with the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development.  Panellist Biography   Hannah Quinn-Mulligan is an organic dairy and beef farmer based at Tory Hill House in County Limerick. Farming alongside her mother and grandmother, she runs an organic micro-dairy that processes milk into products sold through the farm shop, alongside organic beef, pork and eggs. Her work is rooted in the belief that farming for value rather than volume can support both viable family farming and positive outcomes for nature. Hannah has also worked as a journalist and presenter with RTÉ, the BBC and the Irish Independent.  Professor Karen Keaveney is Associate Professor and Head of Rural Development in the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin, where she also directs the MSc in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development. A human geographer and qualified regional and urban planner, her research focuses on community-led local development, rural governance and co-design for evidence-based policy. She was a member of the European Commission’s Rural Pact Coordination Group from 2023 to 2026 and chairs the National Decarbonising Zone Advisory Group. Karen previously lectured in Rural Spatial Planning at Queen’s University Belfast and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy Geography and Geosciences Committee.  Aoife Franklyn is a researcher, consultant and project manager working across environmental policy and sustainable food systems. Her interests include agroecology, ethics of care, policy coherence across agriculture, environment, food and health, and pathways for food-system transformation. She has worked across South East Asia, Afghanistan, Africa and the EU with organisations including UN Environment, the UN Development Programme, governments, universities, research institutes, civil-society organisations and indigenous communities.

In this webinar, Tim Christophersen, Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce and author of Generation Restoration, will deliver an address on the case for treating nature as critical infrastructure for a climate-resilient Europe. Against the backdrop of increasingly frequent extreme-weather events, Tim will examine how investment in ecosystem restoration and other nature-based solutions can strengthen climate resilience, reduce flood, drought and wildfire risks, support water and food security, and protect communities and economies. He will consider the policy and investment shift required to embed nature within European infrastructure, competitiveness and resilience planning. Rebekah Braswell, CEO of Land Life, will respond to Tim’s address, drawing on her experience of advancing and delivering large-scale nature-restoration projects. Their subsequent discussion will explore how policymakers, investors and businesses can work together to scale high-quality restoration and translate the ambitions of Generation Restoration into action. Tim Christophersen joined Salesforce as VP, Climate Action in May 2022. Within the global Impact Team, he leads the work on climate and nature action and investments. Tim is based in Denmark. He is the author of Generation Restoration, a book about restoring nature at planetary scale. Before joining Salesforce, Tim was Head of the ‘Nature for Climate’ Branch at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and led a growing global movement backed by all UN Member States and over 300 partner organizations to ‘prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide’: the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. He previously worked for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), where he led the portfolio on the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity. From 2017-2019, he was elected Chair of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration. Rebekah Braswell is a pioneering leader in nature-based solutions and the CEO of Land Life. She has been instrumental in demonstrating the business case for high-quality nature restoration, persuading corporations to integrate nature and landscape agendas as both essential and investible. Rebekah leads global restoration projects, collaborating with corporations, governments, and non-profits to deliver technology-driven solutions that mitigate climate change and restore ecosystems. Before joining Land Life, Rebekah spent a decade addressing economic development and food security challenges across multiple countries. Rebekah holds a BA from Brown University and an MSc from Oxford University

In this event, Thomas Byrne, Minister of State for European Affairs and Cristina Gherasimov, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of the Republic of Moldova will discuss Enlargement and Moldova’s journey towards EU membership. The Ministers’ keynotes will be followed by a panel discussion with experts to discuss Moldova’s key reform priorities and the challenges shaping the accession process. Panellists will include: Ben Ryan, Assistant Secretary, Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration with responsibility for Criminal Justice Legislation Stanislav Secrieru, National Security and Defence Advisor to the President of the Republic of Moldova and the Secretary of the Supreme Security Council Ilie Chirtoacă, Executive Director of the Legal Resources Centre (LRCM), Moldova Claudia Badulescu, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow at Maynooth University The panel will be followed by closing remarks from Iulian Groza, Director of Institute for European Policies and Reforms. This IIEA event is part of the Future Proofing Europe Project, kindly sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It is organised in partnership with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), in cooperation with the Bureau for European Integration of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, and with the support of the GIZ Moldova and the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Ireland.

Kirsty McNeill is the Scottish Labour and Co-operative MP for Midlothian and was appointed Minister of State for International Development in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on 21 July 2026. In her ministerial roles, she has responsibility for: Africa; development and humanitarian; international finance; and climate and energy security. She was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland in the Scotland Office between July 2024 and July 2026. Before entering Parliament, McNeill was an Executive Director at Save the Children, leading work on global health, education, poverty, and humanitarian issues, and earlier served as an adviser to former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She has also held a number of leadership and advisory roles across public policy, international affairs and civil society.

Elisabeth Braw's new book, The Undersea War, explores the underwater infrastructure that supports everyday life – and takes the reader beneath the waves to reveal a hidden conflict. In her remarks she will examine how the undersea cables transmit that nearly all the world's data while intercontinental pipelines carry two-thirds of the world's oil and gas, and discuss how decades of apparent calm, mysterious damage to cables has revealed a growing struggle for control beneath the waves. Ireland, which is a global cable junction but has weak national defence, is particularly exposed. Kyle Mattews, the Executive Director of the Montreal Institute for Global Security, will respond and reflect upon the risks facing transatlantic subsea cables in the North Atlantic. Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Her work focuses on defence against gray-zone and hybrid threats as well as the intersection of geopolitics and the globalized economy. She leads the Transatlantic Security Initiative’s “Threats to the global maritime order” project. Braw is also a columnist with Foreign Policy and Politico Europe. Kyle Mathews is the Executive Director of the Montreal Institute for Global Security. His work focuses on international security, emerging technologies, and countering authoritarianism. He recently held the position of McConnell Professor of Practice at McGill University. He is a member of the Global Diplomacy Lab and the BMW Foundation’s Global Responsible Leaders network. He is currently a member of the Government of Canada’s Cross-cultural Roundtable on Security. He is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his work to advance human rights.

For much of the past two decades, discussions of Latin American democracy have centred on decline — elected autocrats, weakened institutions, and a slide toward competitive authoritarianism. Building on joint work with Scott Mainwaring, Dr Bizzarro contends that the more common, and in some ways more troubling, pattern is not democratic collapse but stagnation. He argues that most of the region's democracies are neither dying nor deepening: they are stuck — hobbled by entrenched elites who block reform, governments that fail to deliver, and weak states that neither fully protect rights nor fully provide security. Dr Bizzarro examines what this stagnation costs: economically, in slower growth; politically, in eroding support for democratic institutions and the rise of anti-system outsiders; and internationally, in a region less able to anchor democratic norms abroad. This event examines why Latin American democracy's central problem may not be a single dramatic crisis, but a long, quiet plateau whose consequences deserve closer attention. Dr Bizzarro is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston College, and for the 2026-2027 academic year, a Visiting Professor at Yale University. A comparativist working on Latin America, his research explores the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy and political parties across the region. He completed his Ph.D. in Harvard University's Department of Government in 2023 and was previously a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale's Jackson School of International Affairs. His work has appeared in the Journal of Democracy, World Politics, and Electoral Studies, and he is co-authoring a book with Scott Mainwaring on democratic deepening in Latin America.

In recent years, there has been a growing focus by governments on the criticality of offshore data cables, and the risks which they face. From accidental damage to acts of sabotage, the risks to undersea data cables continues to capture attention. In this panel discussion, experts from industry, government, and academia share their perspectives on the risks to underwater cables, and on how to ensure that this infrastructure remains secure and reliable. Speakers include: Sandra Delaney, General Council at EXA Infrastructure Camino Kavanagh, Senior Fellow with the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and a Visiting Senior Fellow with the Dept. of War Studies, King’s College London. Margaret Stanley, Director of the Maritime Security Unit at the Department of Defence

In his remarks to the IIEA, Minister Valys presents Lithuania’s priorities for its upcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU, with a focus on the work in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) and General Affairs Council (GAC) in Cohesion configuration. Taurimas Valys elaborates on Lithuania’s priorities in ECOFIN, regarding continued support for Ukraine, the Savings and Investment Union (SIU), taxation, and the 2028-2034 EU budget and own resources, as well as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and Cohesion Policy in GAC (Cohesion). Taurimas Valys is the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania. He has more than 20 years of management experience in finance and previously served as Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for economic diplomacy, defence industry and diaspora. He has also served as an adviser to the Prime Minister on economic diplomacy and state-owned enterprise efficiency. Taurimas Valys holds degrees in International Relations and Political Science.

Keynote Address by Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Minister for Health followed by a fireside chat with Audrey Carville.

"Driving Innovation for Patients" This panel examines how sustained commitment to research, innovation and health system modernisation can accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation therapies across Europe. It also looks at how public policy, private investment and multi-stakeholder collaboration can improve patient outcomes while supporting a thriving life sciences ecosystem. Panellists include: Rainer Becker, Director of Medical Products & Innovation, DG SANTE, European Commission Vytenis Andriukaitis MEP, Biotech Act Rapporteur for SANT Committee, European Parliament, and former European Commissioner for Health & Food Safety Claire Skentelbery, Director General, EuropaBio Avril Daly, President of EURORDIS - Rare Diseases Europe Muiris O’Connor, Assistant Secretary at Department of Health, Head of Research & Development and Health Analytics.

"Sharpening Europe’s Competitive Edge" This panel explores the policies and conditions needed to strengthen Europe’s position as a global leader in life sciences research, development and advanced manufacturing. In particular, the discussion focuses on how initiatives such as the forthcoming EU Biotech Act and related policy developments can support innovation, attract investment, build skills and enhance Europe’s competitiveness. Panellists include: Thomas Van Cangh, Deputy Head of Unit & Head of Biotech Task Force, DG SANTE, European Commission Rachel Shelly, Global Head of Life Sciences & Food, IDA Ireland Anouk De Vroey, Head of Government Affairs & Policy at Johnson & Johnson EMEA Prof. Mark Ferguson, Former Chairman of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Board

Why do some new democracies develop peacefully while others descend into criminal wars? Accountability Shock (coauthored by Guillermo Trejo, Lucia Tiscornia and Juan Albarracin, Cambridge University Press 2026) argues that the answer lies in how newly elected governments confront — or ignore — their authoritarian past. When post-authoritarian elites pursue truth commissions and criminal prosecutions for past atrocities, they break the cycle of state impunity that enables criminal violence to take hold. Where they extend amnesty and silence instead, criminal wars follow. The book's findings challenge a long-standing policy assumption: accountability is not a threat to fragile democracies — impunity is.In this discussion with the IIEA, Lucia Tiscornia and Roger Mac Ginty will discuss the role of accountability in conflict prevention, and how post-authoritarian states can strengthen democratic institutions, address legacies of violence and build the foundations for sustainable peace and security. Lucía Tiscornia is Associate Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin and Faculty Fellow at the Geary Institute for Public Policy. She works at the intersection of political science, criminology, and international relations, with research expertise in criminal governance, state violence, and security sector reform. Her most recent project, funded through a European Research Council Starting Grant, focuses on understanding criminal governance in contexts where one would not expect to find it. Roger Mac Ginty is Professor in Defence, Development and Diplomacy in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. He works on peace and conflict, with a particular focus on the intersection between top-down and bottom-up approaches to peacemaking and on everyday peace. He co-directs the Everyday Peace Indicators project and co-edits the journal Peacebuilding. His research has been funded by the EU, the ESRC, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Often compared to modern slavery, trafficking in human beings destroys individuals’ lives by depriving people of their dignity, their freedom, and their rights. Yet trafficking in human beings remains a largely hidden crime. In the EU, more than 20,000 victims were registered in 2023–2024, while many more remain invisible. Trafficking is a serious threat to security, closely linked to organised crime and generating enormous profits, with low risks for criminals. It affects women, men, and children in a wide range of sectors and takes different forms; including sexual and labour exploitation, forced criminality, and forced begging. It requires a comprehensive approach from prevention to prosecution of traffickers, while protecting the victims and working closely with partners from the private sector and non-EU countries. Against this backdrop, the IIEA host a keynote address by the EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, Diane Schmitt, offering insights into the latest trends, challenges, and action needed, as well as an opportunity to exchange views on this pressing issue. Moreover, this discussion fits into in the Irish Presidency’s priorities to deliver on European competitiveness, values, and security, in addition to occurring at a particularly timely moment, as the EU will have a renewed EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings before end of 2026. Combatting trafficking in human beings requires a comprehensive approach to prevent the crime, protect the victims and bring perpetrators to justice. Diane Schmitt was appointed EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator in July 2021 to contribute to this approach, improve coordination and coherence among EU institutions, EU agencies and Member States, cooperate with international actors and support the implementation and development of EU policies in this area. This appointment follows a long career in the European Commission, where Diane Schmitt held different strategic positions, including in the area of migration, security, and justice.