A decade after Northwestern University alumna Roberta Buffett Elliott gifted $101 million to establish the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, her mission to transform global studies at Northwestern continues to thrive—empowering students & faculty to tackle challenging global problems.

Danielle Ortiz, who studies environmental political theory, was part of Northwestern's delegation to COP29, supported by @buffett.northwestern.edu. While attending the conference, Danielle observed meetings between grassroots organizations and international policymakers.

Young people are leading global efforts to end conflict, defend human rights, & advocate for sustainable peace. Hosted by @buffett.northwestern.edu, this student-led symposium on Fri. Nov. 7 brings together activists, politicians, NGO leaders, & negotiators from across the world to... 🧵

“Americans are paying farmers to grow soybeans, turn them into inefficient fuels—and then paying again when trade wars make them unsellable," writes @mikegrunwald.bsky.social in his new op-ed published by @nytimes.com today: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/o...

This is so cool. I think I’ll only ever be comfortable w/ AI up to a point. But I feel like THIS👇is the sort of thing AI in journalism was intended to create.

Join Medill and @buffett.northwestern.edu for "Press Freedom Under Fire: Threats to Journalism and Democracy." The two-day session will feature discussions with newsroom leaders, experts and reporters about the challenges facing journalists. Register here: spr.ly/63324AgBow

At our Buffett First Friday Lunch in October, Professor Bruce Carruthers shared his current research on long-term decision-making. Today, "there is abundant short-termism," he explained, "which is not only psychologically embedded for individuals but also institutionalized..." (🧵 1/3)

What happened to microfinance, the anti-poverty program that was supposed to change the world? Join Northwestern's Global Health Studies Program on Friday, Oct. 24 for a lunch lecture from journalist and author Mara Kardas-Nelson to learn about the promises and perils of global microfinance. 🧵

Northwestern undergraduates! Join the Roberta Buffett Institute for an open house to learn more about the Institute's opportunities to contribute to international development, support international faculty research, conduct your own research abroad, and connect with faculty & fellow students.

With support from the Roberta Buffett Institute's Epistemic Reparations Global Working Group, @brenthuffman.bsky.social's students in his Documenting Incarceral Justice course collaborated with incarcerated students in the Northwestern Prison Education Program to create short docs on their lives.

As the Nobel Prize announcement week comes to a close, we are looking forward to welcoming 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad to the @BuffettInst on Fri. Nov. 7 for our student-led Buffett Symposium, The Peace We Make. Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-peace-...

Congratulations to Joel Mokyr, Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, on his Nobel Prize. The Roberta Buffett Institute is co-sponsoring a conference with the Department of Economics this spring on his work, which focuses on the economic history of Europe. Stay tuned for more details.

Congratulations to Catalina Martínez Coral on this recognition. Last year, she joined us for our fall Buffett Symposium to share insights into her decades of work fighting for reproductive rights in Colombia and the strategies that brought her and fellow activists such notable success.

Northwestern graduate students! Join the Roberta Buffett Institute for an open house to learn more about the Institute's opportunities: receive support for international research, meet colleagues & learn about cutting-edge scholarship at our events, and work & recharge in the Buffett Reading Room.

Attention translators and friends and lovers of translators! The 2026 Humanities in Translation (Hit!) Prize Competition is now open. Deadline Jan. 16. nupress.northwestern.edu/humanities-i...

During his stay at Northwestern, Buffett Visiting Scholar Mattia Peretti and @medillschool.bsky.social's @jeremygilbert.bsky.social helped launch the JR3 Project. JR3 convened participants from across the journalism ecosystem to envision a renewal of the “public’s social contract with journalism.”

“Conflict is more than what we thought it was before. It’s not just sea, land, & air, not just space, not just cyber—it's cognitive as well," said Professor John Blaxland of Australian National University at last week during his Buffett Lecture on Global Security Challenges: A View From Down Under.

With the support of a Global Collaboration Grant from the Roberta Buffett Institute, Northwestern Prof. Daisy Hernandez is convening a symposium with authors from the Colombia & US to discuss the social forces shaping their creative impulses & impact. Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/colombian-...

Over the past 10 years, Juliet Lumati, MD, MPH, has studied how health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are designed—or often not designed—to protect patients from the financial risks of surgical and cancer care. #globalhealth www.globalhealth.northwestern.edu/about/news/0...

Michelle Lee, who studies climate displacement, was part of Northwestern's delegation to COP29, supported by @buffett.northwestern.edu. She was inspired by youth delegates from displaced backgrounds advocating for greater refugee involvement in climate negotiations & governance.

Hear from John Blaxland—a historian and former Australian military intelligence officer—on why gaining an Australian perspective on global issues can benefit American students, scholars, and policymakers. 📅 Oct. 1 at 12:30 PM 📍 720 University Pl. 🔗 Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/buffett-le...

Congrats to @brenthuffman.bsky.social who was awarded with a @buffett.northwestern.edu Faculty Fellowship to pursue his research. His documentary, “Yemen Mosaic,” is about Yemeni women working to save the cultural heritage of Yemen as they face threats including war and climate change.

How can journalists ethically track the fast-moving social movements shaping politics & culture? @buffett.northwestern.edu's AI & Social Movements Global Working Group is developing a Social Movement Analysis & Reasoning Tool (SMART), an AI system to help journalists track movements in real-time.

Meet our 2025–26 Buffett Faculty Fellows as they embark on international research, filmmaking, & more: buffett.northwestern.edu/programs/fac... Lina Britto @brenthuffman.bsky.social @deankarlan.bsky.social katrina quisumbing king KB Dennis Meade Sally Nuamah Kennetta Hammond Perry Sulafa Zidani

Buffett Faculty Fellow @deankarlan.bsky.social, USAID's former Chief Economist, is among the experts arguing that supporting national governments to leverage domestic financing to improve foundational learning should be a priority for assistance funds that remain. See why: voxdev.org/topic/educat...

@buffett.northwestern.edu's Empowering the Next Gen of Women Leaders Global Working Group, led by @jnfrltackett.bsky.social & Haoqi Zhang, convened women across Tokyo's universities to discuss experiences with leadership and reexamine leadership possibilities through diverse values and dialogue.

Last month, the Trump administration named Jeremy Lewin as the new Deputy Director of USAID. Buffett Faculty Fellow Dean Karlan, former Chief Economist of USAID, shares advice for its new leadership with @cgdev.org: www.cgdev.org/blog/great-p...

Our spring Buffett Symposium on peacemaking convened diplomats, negotiators, and academics to discuss the high-profile peace processes of recent decades and draw lessons for today's negotiations. Watch our short recap of the event.

A study led by @fsmglobalhealth.bsky.social's Egon Ozer identified a new fungal infection in Pakistan. The international collaboration was launched by a Buffett Global Working Group grant led by co-authors Profs. Mehreen Arshad & Erica Hartmann: spr.ly/63326fqGp2

“This project is a model of how community, academia, & city government can work together,” said @mayorofchicago.bsky.social at a @buffett.northwestern.edu Defusing Disasters Global Working Group event on extreme heat. Read more in The Chicago Tribune: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/16/c...

"Peacemaking is not an event so much as a process,” said Abiodun Williams at @buffett.northwestern.edu's ‬spring symposium, which brought together negotiators & academics to discuss peace processes of recent decades. Watch the recording: buffett.northwestern.edu/news/2025/ne...

Kaylyn Ahn traveled to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia to conduct research on command responsibility and war crimes via her Buffett Institute International Senior Thesis Research Grant. Read about her contribution to Northwestern's #ResearchMatters campaign: spr.ly/63324fKJ9C

@buffett.northwestern.edu Faculty Fellow V.S. Subrahmanian has been named founding co-director of the Northwestern Network for Collaborative Intelligence (NNCI), a new network to advance AI + data science across disciplines. Read more about the NNCI: http://spr.ly/633224Ly0M

Join @mayorofchicago.bsky.social & @buffett.northwestern.edu’s Defusing Disasters Global Working Group for a film screening & a look at the group's new data + policy suggestions for heat resilience. 📅 July 15 at 5:30 PM 📍 Columbus Park Refectory 🔗 Register: http://spr.ly/633224xVZK

Northwestern researchers in ‪the Buffett Institute‬'s Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group developed a 30-minute, at-home lead test now being piloted in Chicago and Evanston homes. Read the full story via @cbschicago.bsky.social‬: www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Ashti Doobay-Persaud, MD, co-director of the Center for Global Health Education, served as the lead editor of a collection of twenty articles examining global health education that were published in Frontiers in Education. www.globalhealth.northwestern.edu/about/news/0...

Register for our July #IGHSeminar: "From Recipients to Co-Creators: Community-Driven Solutions for Public Health. Leveraging Social Innovation & Co-Creation to Address Non-Communicable Diseases in Low-Income Settings" with Prof. René English! 🗓️ Wed, July 9 ⌚️ 1 PM - 2 PM CT 💻 Zoom: bit.ly/igh_jul25

"Winters, looking across history, believes that the U.S. has reached 'peak oligarchic power,'" says ‪Evan Osnos in a recent New Yorker piece featuring Jeffrey Winters, Director of @buffett.northwestern.edu‬'s EDGS Program: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The Buffett Institute's Empowering the Next Generation of Women Leaders Global Working Group is hosting a leadership-focused networking event & discussion for women enrolled in Tokyo universities. 📅 July 1 📍Ochanomizu University, Tokyo 🔗 Info: http://spr.ly/633214Rekz

The @csis.org Bi-Partisan Commission on Hostage Taking & Wrongful Detention released its long-awaited report on new tools to combat state hostage taking as well as key areas for international cooperation, US government organization, & outreach to US citizens. www.csis.org/analysis/com...

Northwestern undergrads interested in tackling today’s global challenges: explore a new course this fall, Thinking Globally: Climate in International Studies, offered jointly by Northwestern’s International Studies Program & @buffett.northwestern.edu: buffett.northwestern.edu/thinking-glo...

Last month, we convened leading diplomats, negotiators & academics to discuss high-profile peace processes of recent decades. They examined successes & failures of past processes with a view to resolving today's conflicts. Listen to the recordings: buffett.northwestern.edu/news/2025/ne...

Join us for a Buffett Book Talk with @bethhurd.bsky.social on her book "Heaven Has a Wall," which analyzes how the US creates, enforces & ignores borders at home and abroad. 📅 May 21 at 4 PM 📍 720 University Pl. 🔗 http://spr.ly/63324NYKXo

Hear from @usc.edu's Nicholas Cull on "reputational security," the idea that nations are safer & more secure when well-regarded internationally. 📅 5/22 at 12:30 PM 🔗 Register: http://spr.ly/63328NcCww

Join us and the @buffett.northwestern.edu for a conversation with Cameroonian author and journalist Haman Mana on his new book, "Biya's Regime: Chronicles of the Shipwreck of the Cameroonian Nation." Register: http://spr.ly/63325NZGcB

Leadership from the Center for Pathogen Genomics and Microbial Evolution was invited to present on microbial sequencing bioinformatics at the First International West Africa Symposium and Workshops on Infectious Diseases in Sierra Leone. Read more: www.globalhealth.northwestern.edu/about/news/0...

With a Buffett Global Collaboration Grant, @nuqatar.bsky.social's Professor Sam Meekings convened scholars, filmmakers & practitioners to examine how storytelling can shape trauma processing & recovery. Learn about the work presented & connections drawn: www.qatar.northwestern.edu/news/article...

"The SignalGate episode is a terrible failure of operational security. But it is not a one-off mistake," says @uoft.bsky.social's @rondeibert.bsky.social, NU's Roberta Buffett Visiting Professor of International Studies, in a @foreignaffairs.com op-ed: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

What happens when governments view universities as adversaries? Tune in to this afternoon's online panel featuring global university leaders & faculty members who have confronted state attacks. 📅 Today at 12 PM CT (UTC-5) 🧑‍💻 Online via Zoom 🔗 Register: northwestern.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Congratulations to Jennifer Lackey, Wayne & Elizabeth Jones Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and co-lead of the Epistemic Reparations Global Working Group at the Buffett Institute, on her election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: news.northwestern.edu/stories/2025...