San Diego World Affairs Council upcoming events

Distinguished Speakers Series: "Next in Sports: Lessons, Legacy & the Future of Sports Diplomacy” with Krystle Norman (November 14, 2026)

Sat, 14 Nov 2026 18:00:00 GMT

The San Diego World Affairs Council Presents

The Distinguished Speakers Series

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Location of Event:

UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies

8980 Villa La Jolla Drive

La Jolla, CA 92037

Floor 3

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About the Program:

What happens when sports puts a country at the center of the global conversation?

From the FIFA World Cup to the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, global sporting events are about far more than competition. They are powerful stages for storytelling, national identity, cultural exchange, economic opportunity, and diplomacy.

Next in Sports explores what countries and cities can do with that moment. Major sporting events increasingly shape global perceptions, drive policy decisions, attract investment, build community, and create a legacy that extends far beyond the field of play.

Drawing lessons from the 2026 FIFA World Cup and other major global sporting moments, the conversation will ask: What does successful sports diplomacy look like? How can host cities turn global attention into meaningful and sustainable impact? And as the spotlight shifts from World Cup 2026 toward the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, what lessons can Southern California carry forward?

About Krystle Norman:

Krystle Norman is a global communications and policy strategist, former U.S. diplomat, and Founder & Principal of Jackson Norman Agency. Jackson Norman Agency is an advisory firm specializing in storytelling, partnerships, and global engagement across sports, media, culture, and policy. With more than 15 years of experience spanning four continents, she has built partnerships and led high-level initiatives, including with the Smithsonian Institution, The Recording Academy, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). She advises senior leaders, global brands, and mission-driven organizations on how to drive partnerships, strengthen communities, and accelerate relevance and revenue, including using the power of sport and culture to build connections and influence across borders.

The San Diego World Affairs Council does not endorse any specific political ideology or viewpoint. As a nonpartisan organization, we are committed to presenting a wide range of perspectives to promote informed, respectful dialogue on complex global issues. The opinions expressed by speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Council, its board, or its partners.

An Insider’s Perspective Series: "The International Criminal Court, Global Justice & the States' Role: A Conversation with Former ICC Judge Péter Kovács" (November 21, 2026)

Sat, 21 Nov 2026 18:00:00 GMT

San Diego World Affairs Council Presents

An Insider’s Perspective Series:

"The International Criminal Court, Global Justice & the States' Role: A Conversation with Former ICC Judge Péter Kovács"

Saturday, November 21, 2026
10:00 AM PST / 7:00 PM CET
Virtual Program via Zoom

About this Program

What does international justice look like from inside the International Criminal Court?

Join the San Diego World Affairs Council for a special virtual conversation with Judge Péter Kovács, who served as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague from 2015 to 2025.

Drawing on a decade at the ICC and a career spanning international law, diplomacy, human rights, and constitutional law, Judge Kovács will offer an insider’s perspective on the role of the Court and the complex realities of pursuing international criminal justice.

The conversation will explore the ICC’s role in the international system, the opportunities and limitations of international criminal justice, questions of national sovereignty and international accountability, and the complicated relationship between the Court and the non state parties.

At a time when international courts are increasingly part of debates surrounding war, accountability, sovereignty, and the international legal order, this program offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from someone who spent a decade navigating these issues from inside the ICC.

Judge Kovács will share his perspective and experiences, followed by a moderated conversation and audience Q&A.

Free to the public. Available via Zoom. Pre-registration required.

About Péter Kovács

Péter Kovács is a Hungarian jurist, scholar, diplomat, and former judge of the International Criminal Court, where he served from 2015 to 2025.

Prior to joining the ICC, he served as a judge of the Hungarian Constitutional Court from 2005 to 2014. Earlier in his career, he served as a diplomat at the Hungarian Embassy in Paris and as head of the Department of Human Rights and Minority Law at Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As a governmental expert, Judge Kovács participated in the drafting of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, both developed under the auspices of the Council of Europe.

An accomplished scholar of international law, he has taught at universities in Hungary and served as a visiting professor at universities in France, Germany, Belgium, and the United States. His scholarship includes minority protection, human rights, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and comparative international jurisprudence.

He is a recipient of France’s Ordre National du Mérite and the Hungarian Order of Merit and is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Miskolc.

Distinguished Speakers Series: "From Churchill to Kennedy: Leadership, the Special Relationship, and the Path to Peace" with Joel Nelson (December 12, 2026)

Sat, 12 Dec 2026 18:00:00 GMT

The San Diego World Affairs Council Presents

The Distinguished Speakers Series

___________________________________

Location of Event:

UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies

8980 Villa La Jolla Drive

La Jolla, CA 92037

Floor 3

___________________________________

About the Program:

Featuring Joel Nelson, author of Kennedy’s Only Hero: How JFK’s Obsession with Winston Churchill Defined His Presidency

What shapes a president’s understanding of America’s place in the world? And what can we learn from two of the twentieth century’s greatest leaders and foreign policy thinkers?

Long before John F. Kennedy entered the White House, he came under Winston Churchill’s influence. From Churchill, Kennedy learned an approach to foreign policy that privileged military strength and negotiation, and which the Englishman used in the 1930s and 1940s, and which the American used in the 1950s and 1960s. This combination of arms and diplomacy—which Churchill described as “Peace Through Strength”—was a hallmark of both men’s leadership as they sought to deter Soviet aggression. As the world is confronted once more by dictators armed with nuclear weapons and bent upon territorial expansion, the strategy outlined by Kennedy and Churchill remains relevant and vitally important.

In this San Diego World Affairs Council conversation, British historian and author Joel Nelson explores the remarkable relationship at the heart of his new book, Kennedy’s Only Hero, and what it reveals about the intellectual development of America’s thirty-fifth president.

The discussion will move beyond biography to examine the larger geopolitical story: the Anglo-American “special relationship,” Kennedy’s evolution from youthful isolationist to committed internationalist, the importance of alliances and personal diplomacy, and the strategy that both men adopted to avoid World War III.

The conversation will also consider a question which Churchill and Kennedy both struggled to answer, and which remains strikingly relevant today: How can the West peacefully resolve its differences with hostile nuclear powers?

About Joel Nelson

Joel Nelson is a British writer and historian. He has worked as an advisor to the Secretary of State for International Development, an editor at Foreign Affairs, and a Director of European Policy at an AI think-tank in Washington, D.C. He has a first-class honours degree in History from the University of Oxford, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and he was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard. Kennedy’s Only Hero is his first book, and he will be touring the United States and Canada to promote it, with confirmed stops at venues including the Jimmy Carter Library, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Richard Nixon Library, and the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas.

An Insider’s Perspective Series: "The European Court of Human Rights: Human Rights, Law, and Europe" a Conversation with Judge Mykola Gnatovskyy (January 23, 2027)

Sat, 23 Jan 2027 18:00:00 GMT

San Diego World Affairs Council Presents

An Insider’s Perspective Series:

"The European Court of Human Rights:
Human Rights, Law, and Europe"
a conversation with

Judge Mykola Gnatovsky

Saturday, January 23rd, 2027
10:00 AM PST / 7:00 PM CET
Virtual Program via Zoom

About this Program

What does it mean to protect human rights across a continent—and what role does international law play when fundamental rights, national sovereignty, security, and political realities intersect?

Join the San Diego World Affairs Council for a special online conversation with Judge Mykola Gnatovsky of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for an insider’s perspective on one of the world’s most important international human rights institutions.

Based in Strasbourg, the European Court of Human Rights hears cases involving alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, addressing issues that touch on some of the most consequential questions facing European societies. Drawing on his experience as a judge, international law scholar, and longtime human rights practitioner, Judge Gnatovsky will offer insight into the role of the Court, the principles that guide its work, and the broader relationship between international law and the protection of human rights.

The conversation will also explore the evolving human rights landscape in Europe at a time of war, geopolitical change, technological transformation, migration, and challenges to democratic institutions and the international legal order.

This program is part of SDWAC’s An Insider’s Perspective series, bringing audiences into conversation with individuals whose professional experience offers a firsthand view of the institutions, events, and decisions shaping international affairs.

Free to the public. Available via Zoom. Pre-registration required.

About Mykola Gnatovsky

Dr. Mykola Gnatovsky has served as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg since June 2022 and has been elected Section President of the ECtHR, effective November 1, 2026. A distinguished scholar and practitioner in public international law, international humanitarian law, and human rights, he has more than two decades of experience teaching at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Before joining the Court, Dr. Gnatovsky served from 2009 to 2021 as a member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), including three consecutive terms as its President from 2015 to 2021.

Dr. Gnatovsky holds an LL.M. and a Ph.D. in International Law and serves as First Vice-President of the Ukrainian Association of International Law. His career spans academia, international human rights institutions, and the practical application of international law, bringing a unique perspective to contemporary questions of human rights, law, and Europe.