On 15 February the OSCE Academy hosted an online event to discuss a new special issue on Environmental Peacebuilding in International Affairs. In this issue the authors advance the theories, methodologies and policy implications of this rapidly developing field. This event was initiated by Dr. Mirza Sadaqat Huda, Academy’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow and author of the article “An Ecological Response to Ethno-Nationalistic Populism: Grassroots Environmental Peacebuilding in South Asia.” The discussion featured presentations by contributors who shared new insights on environmental peacebuilding in the context of Liberia and Sierra Leone, Columbia, South Asia, and Central Asia.

On 4 February the OSCE Academy welcomed representatives of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kazakhstan for an introductory visit. Dr. Nout van Woudenberg, Deputy head of Mission, and Ms. Irina Buchinskaya, Political, Human Rights & Project officer, met Dr. Alexander Wolters, Director of the OSCE Academy. Dr. Wolters presented the Academy’s programmes and activities and informed about the Academy’s work to cope with the challenges posed by the global pandemic.

On 22 January 34 students of the MA Programmes in Politics & Security and in Economic Governance & Development received their degrees and graduated from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. This has been the first Graduation Ceremony held in a hybrid format, which was a forced measure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bishkek-based graduates and invited guests joined the ceremony in person, whereas some of the students coming from other countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan joined via Zoom.

Congratulations to Niva Yau, OSCE Academy Researcher, on winning the Albie Award 2020 from the Washington Post for her article, jointly written with Tristan Kenderdine, entitled "China’s Policy Banks Are Lending Differently, Not Less." "I am committed to monitoring China’s latest trends and activities abroad because I know that the world is driven by them in every way, winning the Albie award shows to me that I am on the right track. As a young researcher from Hong Kong, I sincerely thank the OSCE Academy for the generous support in the past two and a half years in my research journey studying various topics focusing on China in Central Asia and Afghanistan...” – says Ms. Yau.