Symposium
2026 Conference on Expanding Access to International Affairs
Event date
This long-running conference is a key pillar of CFR’s mission to cultivate the next generation of diverse U.S. foreign policy experts and practitioners. A full agenda can be found here.
The conference brings together college and graduate students and young professionals from diverse backgrounds for plenaries on foreign policy topics, seminars on professional development, and networking receptions.
For information about previous conferences, please click here.
In-Person Keynote Session: A Conversation With Ayman Mohyeldin
Speaker
- Cohost, The Weekend: Primetime, MSNBC; CFR Member
Presider
- Executive Chairman, Cerevel Therapeutics LLC; Member, Board of Directors, Council on Foreign Relations
In-Person Keynote Session: A Conversation With Eric Motley
Speaker
- Deputy Director, National Gallery of Art; Author, Madison Park: A Place of Hope; CFR Member
Presider
- Staff Writer, The Atlantic; CFR Member
In-Person Plenary I: America at 250—Democracy, Belonging, and Power
Speakers
- Opinion Columnist, New York Times
- President and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello; Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History Emerita, Harvard University
- Assistant Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies, American University; Author, Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation's Capital
Presider
- Executive Dean, Public Policy and Public Service Programs and Director, Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs, Hofstra University; CFR Member
In-Person Plenary II: The AI Economy—Who Gets Left Behind?
Speakers
- Senior Research and Advocacy Advisor, U.S.-China, International Crisis Group
- Head of Innovation and Strategy, Kapor Center; Former Chief Innovation Officer, U.S. Department of Labor (2021–2023); CFR Member
- Distinguished Visiting Professor, Vanderbilt University; CFR Member
Presider
- Senior Fellow for Artificial Intelligence, Council on Foreign Relations
