Euskal Herria y la Diplomacia de las Naciones en el siglo XXI

Urko Aiartza Azurtza is the director of the Telesforo Monzon eLab, a laboratory of ideas for state- building, and the Olaso Dorrea Foundation. He served as Senator in the Madrid Senate (2011- 2015) and served as Spokesperson in the Justice, Foreign Affairs, Iberoamerican, and Standing Senate Committees. Since 2017, he is a Senior Adviser of the European Institute of Peace (EIP) in Brussels as well as counsel of a variety of international organizations. He received his degree in law from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and a Master in Conflictology from the Universitat Oberta de Catalonia (UOC). Currently, he is a member of the Gipuzkoa Bar and runs a law firm in Donostia.

Licenciado en Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao (1992). 2009-2012: Representante del Estado de Pennsylvania en España & Portugal Socio-Advisor de LBR International Strategies. 2002-2009: Director de Relaciones Exteriores, Lehendakaritza, Gobierno Vasco. 2000–2001: Director de Cooperación al Desarrollo, Lehendakaritza, Gobierno Vasco. 1997–2000: Gerente General de la Fundación Vasco-Chilena para el Desarrollo. 1993–1996: Asesor al Director de la Fundación Vasco-Chilena para el Desarrollo. Fue Director de Coordinación al Desarrollo en Lehendakaritza del Gobierno Vasco. De Febrero de 2016, Responsable de Relaciones Internacionales en la Ejecutiva del EBB del EAJ/PNV.

Urko Aiartza Azurtza is the director of the Telesforo Monzon eLab, a laboratory of ideas for state- building, and the Olaso Dorrea Foundation. He served as Senator in the Madrid Senate (2011- 2015) and served as Spokesperson in the Justice, Foreign Affairs, Iberoamerican, and Standing Senate Committees. Since 2017, he is a Senior Adviser of the European Institute of Peace (EIP) in Brussels as well as counsel of a variety of international organizations. He received his degree in law from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and a Master in Conflictology from the Universitat Oberta de Catalonia (UOC). Currently, he is a member of the Gipuzkoa Bar and runs a law firm in Donostia.

Licenciado en Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao (1992). 2009-2012: Representante del Estado de Pennsylvania en España & Portugal Socio-Advisor de LBR International Strategies. 2002-2009: Director de Relaciones Exteriores, Lehendakaritza, Gobierno Vasco. 2000–2001: Director de Cooperación al Desarrollo, Lehendakaritza, Gobierno Vasco. 1997–2000: Gerente General de la Fundación Vasco-Chilena para el Desarrollo. 1993–1996: Asesor al Director de la Fundación Vasco-Chilena para el Desarrollo. Fue Director de Coordinación al Desarrollo en Lehendakaritza del Gobierno Vasco. De Febrero de 2016, Responsable de Relaciones Internacionales en la Ejecutiva del EBB del EAJ/PNV.

Dr. Igor Calzada, MBA, FeRSA, Principal Investigator (Full/Research Professor, Unibasq+R3) in digital, urban, and policy transformations from the contemporary perspective of Social Innovation and Web3 (blockchain and data cooperatives). Fulbright Scholar in California and Learned Society of Wales grantee. 2012-21: Senior Researcher, University of Oxford (funded by EC, ESRC, Fulbright, RSA, and Ikerbasque) as well as Cardiff, Strathclyde, Aston, Vrije, Nevada, California, and JRC, EC (Italy). Expert, European Research Executive Agency on AI and Democracy and People-Centered Smart Cities, United Nations. Scientific Director at AeA and BasqueGov. Research lines: Digital Citizenship, Smart Cities, Digital Rights/Sovereignty, and Decentralized Web3 Technologies. Books: Datafied Democracies (Springer, 2024), Benchmarking City-Regions (Routledge, 2024), Emerging Digital Citizenship Regimes (Emerald, 2022), and Smart City Citizenship (Elsevier, 2021). Postdoctoral (Ikerbasque, 2012) and predoctoral (Caja Madrid, 2008). Track record of 170 international presentations. Director of 10 editions of Summer Courses. 2002-11: MCC Cooperative Group and Director BasqueGov. DRC Fellow (Canada). www.igorcalzada.com/publications

Director of Agirre Lehendakaria Center. Specialist in social innovation platforms. J.W. McConnell Family Foundation Visiting Professor 2016-2018 at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Montreal (CIRM-McGill University). McConnell Family Foundation 2016-2018 at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Montreal (CIRM-McGill University), Senior Fellow at the Young Foundation and advisor in the La Caixa Foundation's Work4progress program. He is also a founding member of the Social Innovation Laboratory Koop (SILK). He holds a degree in Journalism from the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Previously, he worked as an advisor to the Presidency of the Basque Government on Peace and Coexistence and has been a member of Elkarri, the social network for dialogue and agreement. Precisely, he is the author of several documentaries whose axis is the Basque conflict: documentaries produced by the Catalan television "Pluja Seca" and "Parlem els ulls", among others.

Shaun Riordan es un consultor independiente de la diplomacia y la geopolítica. Es un investigador principal del Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales del los Países Bajos (“Clingendael”), y asesor tanto al Fondo de los Goles del Desarrollo Sostenible como a la Organización Mundial del Turismo de la ONU. Da clases en las Academias o Escuelas Diplomáticas en España, Armenia, la República Dominicana y Bulgaria y recientemente ha colaborado con UNITAR en desarrollar enfoques innovadores en la formación en la diplomacia pública y digital. Un antiguo diplomático británico, Shaun fue destinado en Nueva York, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Pekín y Madrid, tanto como en los departamentos del contra-terrorismo y Yugoslavia en el Ministerio de Exteriores. Shaun es el autor de The New Diplomacy y Adios a la Diplomacia (con prórroga por el ex-Ministro Moratinos) y La Ciberdiplomacia (que se publica este año), además de numerosos artículos y capítulos sobre la diplomacia y la geopolítica. Mantiene un blog que

Albert Royo has always been involved in the fields of public affairs, government communications and international relations. He holds a B.A. in Political Science (1999) and an M.A. in Applied Economics (2002) from the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He has taught International Relations and European Affairs at the Pompeu Fabra University and at Uruguay’s Diplomatic School. From 2013 to 2017 Albert Royo was Secretary General of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia. During this period he designed and implemented a public diplomacy strategy that placed Catalonia on the international agenda and raised its profile in international public opinion. From 2004 to 2007 he was Secretary for Foreign Aid at the Government of Catalonia. During his tenure aid agreements were signed with a dozen UN agencies and funds (the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, UNIFEM, UNFPA...). He also worked for the European Commission for more than 10 years as press officer and political reporter.

Alexander Ugalde Zubiri es Profesor de Relaciones Internacionales en la UPV/EHU. Licenciado en Historia; y Doctor en Ciencias Políticas. Autor y coordinador de libros y artículos sobre historia del País Vasco; temas de Relaciones Internacionales; acción exterior y paradiplomacia de los Gobiernos No Centrales; y cuestiones de América Latina. Entre sus trabajos es coatuor -con José Luis de Castro- del libro 'La acción exterior del País Vasco (1980-2003)'; y de los 'Anuarios de acción exterior de Euskadi' (publicados desde 2004 hasta 2012). Entre los últimos libros que ha coordinado: 'Patria y Libertad. Los vascos y las Guerras de Independencia de Cuba (1868-1898)' (Txalaparta, 2012); 'América Latina en la turbulencia global: retos, amenazas y oportunidades. I Jornadas de Estudios sobre América Latina y el Caribe' (UPV/EHU, 2013); 'Presente y futuro de Colombia en tiempos de esperanzas' (UPV/EHU, 2014); y 'Diálogos para el estudio de América Latina en el siglo XXI' (UPV/EHU, 2014).