Columbia Conference on UN Communication - October 2026

I am pleased to share that I will be presenting a research paper at the Communicating for a Better World Conference, an international conference taking place in New York City from 21–23 October 2026, hosted at Columbia University and CUNY.

The conference will bring together scholars and practitioners around a timely question: how can effective communication contribute to strengthening the United Nations and advancing solutions to global challenges?

My paper, “Making Sense of Multilateralism: Information Intermediation and Communicative Legitimacy at the United Nations,” will be presented on 23 October. It examines a dimension of multilateralism that often remains invisible: the work required to transform complex diplomatic proceedings into information that wider publics can actually access and understand.

Drawing in particular on the case of the UN Meetings Coverage Section, the paper approaches communication not simply as the dissemination of information, but as a form of information intermediation. In IOs such as the United Nations, where negotiations generate enormous volumes of highly specialized information, communicators play an essential role in selecting, organizing, contextualizing and translating that material into an accessible public record.

The paper connects this function to a broader question that has long been central to my research: the legitimacy of international institutions. If multilateral organizations are to remain accountable and meaningful beyond diplomatic circles, citizens, journalists, researchers and civil society need ways of understanding not only what these institutions decide, but also what is being debated, by whom, and why.

I will also consider what the rapid development of artificial intelligence means for this work. Rather than treating AI simply as a substitute for human communicators, I explore the potential of a human–AI model in which technology can help manage information overload while human editorial judgment safeguards accuracy, context, nuance and institutional responsibility.

I look forward to discussing these ideas in New York and to exchanging perspectives with researchers and practitioners working at the intersection of communication, multilateralism, technology and global governance.