Diplo Academy upcoming courses and programmes
☀️ Applications open! Diplo’s 2025 summer online courses
Register now to reserve your place in our specialised summer courses!
👉🏼 Application deadlines for certificates issued by Diplo: 16 June 2025
For further information and to apply, click the course titles above or visit Diplo’s course catalogue.
◆ Need financial assistance? Scholarships are available!
Thanks to support from the government of Malta, partial scholarships are available for applicants from developing countries to attend upcoming Diplo online courses. These scholarships cover 30%–60% of course fees and can be applied to most 2025 online courses. Browse our course catalogue and contact us at admissions@diplomacy.edu for further information.
Main takeaways from our recent events
◆ The cost and benefits of using digital technology for elections in Africa (14 May)
As African nations continue to explore and implement digital technologies in their electoral processes, it is crucial to assess both the costs and benefits to ensure that such innovations contribute positively to the democratic process. Watch what our panellists had to say – watch our latest webinar.
Blogs and publications
◆ Geopolitics of the deep sea: The ocean’s hidden war
Beneath the waves lies a geopolitical battleground over the future of critical minerals. As demand for rare metals surges, nations and corporations are racing to unlock the ocean’s mineral wealth, risking environmental collapse and triggering a new global power struggle in the process. Read the blog post!
◆ When nature weeps: A wake-up call for the world
Humanity has the tools to prevent environmental collapse – but not the collective will. Water scarcity, unchecked pollution, and political inaction are pushing us toward crisis. Read the blog post!
◆ The evolving significance of soft power: A tribute to Joseph Nye
Joseph Nye, who passed away on 6 May, introduced the concept of soft power, emphasising influence through attraction rather than coercion. His legacy prompts reflection on the current state of soft power, especially as USA initiatives like USAID face reductions, indicating a shift away from efforts to build trust globally.
With increasing restrictions on the internet and fragmented digital landscapes, the traditional avenues for soft power are challenged. However, its evolution towards localised and human-centric approaches offers fresh opportunities for connection, underscoring the necessity to uphold and adapt Nye’s vision in a complex world. Read the blog post!
◆ An introduction to digital twins
When Spain & Portugal went dark, it wasn’t just lights that failed. It was a reminder: technology isn’t just a tool – it’s the system we live in. Read part one of the new blog series Digital Twins!
◆ Converging realities: Embedding governance through digital twins
The metaverse is no longer a question of ‘what if’ – it is already being built. Digital twins, embedded governance, and the collapse of the digital–physical divide mark the next frontier. Read part seven of the blog series UN 2.0 and the Metaverse: Are We Seeing What Is Possible?
◆ ConfTech Digest #46, April-May
Discover the latest updates in the world of online meetings: visual branding, intelligent recap alerts, live transcription controls, and more! Read ConfTech Digest #46!
◆ The rise of the medical-industrial complex
Why does healthcare cost so much, yet so often fail us at the end of life? This blog post explores how modern systems came to prioritise prevention, control, and spending over actual care. Read the blog post!
◆ Weapons of emotional destruction
What if the internet’s true legacy isn’t connection, but emotional warfare? In 2015, this blog post asked whether we’ve unleashed a fire that even Shiva could not contain. Read the blog post!
◆ Bitcoin’s political puppeteers: From code to clout
Once hailed as the future of financial freedom, Bitcoin now finds itself swayed by political power, elite influence, and media manipulation, raising urgent questions about whether the revolution has become the very system it sought to escape. Read the DW analysis!
◆ Technological inventions blurring the line between reality and fiction
From liquid robots to mind-controlled speech, these inventions are challenging our understanding of what’s real and what’s science fiction. Read the DW analysis!
◆ Digital Watch newsletter – Issue 99
In our monthly newsletter:
- April 2025 in retrospect
- Trump administration’s first 100 days and the escalation of trade tensions
- US funding cuts threaten the UN’s future and Geneva’s role as a global hub
- Regulatory and legal framework tendencies in Big Tech legal battles
◆ DW Weekly #211: DOJ targets Google’s ad business, Irish startup reveals quantum chip, Trump to extend TikTok deadline
In the latest issue of the DW Weekly newsletter:
- Google faces DOJ’s request to sell key ad platforms
- Irish start-up launches first silicon quantum computer
- Trump signals new extension for TikTok divestment deadline
Latest videos
◆ DW shorts #28 Crypto crunch, face snatch and a clingy chatbot
In Digital Watch Shorts #28: Crypto costs soaring due to tariffs, AI apps harvesting your face, and ChatGPT’s new infinite memory. Watch the episode below!
Don’t miss…
◆ DiploAI reporting at EuroDIG2025
For the ninth year, and as the official reporting partner of EuroDIG 2025, we proudly support the conversations that shape Europe’s digital future. Read the reports from EuroDIG 2025!
◆ Anne Rachel Inné leads Nigers’s Agency for the Information Society
We are pleased to congratulate Anne Rachel Inné on her appointment as director-general of Niger’s National Agency for the Information Society (ANSI).
Her work in internet governance, infrastructure development, and policy innovation has positioned her as a visionary force in the global digital landscape. Read more!
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