A platform for your voice
When you become involved with the Institute, you can explore what interests you. And we welcome people from all walks of life. Our programme addresses issues that will have a lasting impact on our lives and future generations in New Zealand.
We offer a range of seminars and courses in different formats. Our Leadership Seminars, held in the beautiful retreat setting of Queenstown, run in parallel with on-going Topic Seminars. Our Evidence and Values Based Decision Making Course is tailored for groups, allowing flexible scheduling at a location convenient for participants. Through Aspen’s global network we present International Dialogues, bringing you high level discussion from leading authorities on questions that matter most.
We also keep you up to date with the latest curated view of global thinking on current issues. Visit our news section and join our mailing list for regular updates.
Upcoming events
Join us for the Aspen Sister City Business Lunch, moderated by Christine Maiden Sharp, Aspen Institute NZ Founder and CEO, with Aspen City Mayor Torre and Queenstown Lakes Mayor Lewers, who will discuss the sister city relationship and explore similarities and differences through an economic lens.
Announcing our first Aspen New Zealand Socrates Seminar, in collaboration with the Aspen Institute (U.S.), at Millbrook Resort, Queenstown.
5pm, Sunday 5th May to 2pm, Tuesday 7th May
Moderated by Judy Samuelson, Executive Director of the Institute’s Business and Society Programme, internationally renowned for having her finger on the pulse of creating long term value. Spaces are limited. Register today!
Calling all Members of Parliament
Registration is now open for our May course, being run in collaboration with the Parliamentary Education Trust for Members of Parliament. Click for more details on Evidence and Values Based Decision Making (EVBDM), a dynamic, immersive course designed to enhance our decision-making skills using real world evidence and your own values. In short, the focus is on ’how’ to think not ‘what’ to think.
Ways to participate
Topic Seminars for focused thinking
Topic Seminars discuss New Zealand’s most challenging and complex problems. Expertly moderated, with small groups of participants from diverse sectors, Topic Seminars focus on current issues, that require a 360-degree perspective for a positive outcome.
Leadership Seminars for inspiration
Leadership Seminars develop our next generation of community-spirited leaders to explore their core values to meet complex challenges, and to lead with clarity and conviction. Leadership Seminars are not skills training, but expertly moderated, intensely interactive conversations, for a small group of outstanding participants.
Courses for enhancing strategic decision making
Our Evidence and Values Based Decision Making course offers a transformative approach to strategic decision making, equipping participants with tools to enhance personal and organisational decision making skills. Through a robust framework grounded in real-world evidence and personal values, participants gain the confidence to navigate complex challenges with clarity and conviction.
International Dialogues for global connectivity
In this series we present conversations on topical issues with experts of world repute and our International Partners, providing international perspectives on issues that impact New Zealand and the world.
Participants forge new relationships and those who take part in our courses, topic and leadership seminars join a vast professional network of alumni from around the world.
Past events
We are excited to announce our second online forum with our partner in India, Ananta Aspen Centre, focussing on technology and digital cooperation, and the collaborative potential between India and New Zealand. Join us!
We are excited to announce our second online forum with our partner in India, Ananta Aspen Centre, focused on the dynamic landscape of FinTech and collaboration between India and New Zealand. Join us!
Our Evidence and Values Based Decision Making course offers a transformative approach to strategic decision making, equipping participants with tools to enhance personal and organisational decision making skills.
Join us for our next Aspen Dialogue Lunch at the Northern Club in Auckland, with our honoured guest Professor Ramesh Thakur, Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (CNND) at The Australian National University.
Join us for this free virtual event on 28 June 2023, to hear expert panellists discuss the geopolitical landscape of the Indo Pacific from India and New Zealand’s perspectives.
Hosted by our partner Aspen Institute Kyiv, we invite you to join us for this online dialogue to discuss the war's lessons and the new global architecture of peace, with the participation of leading intellectuals from Ukraine, other European countries, and the United States.
In the spirit of Jeffersonian dinners held in the United States, Aspen Dialogue Dinners are throughout the year in Queenstown.
The conversation is lightly guided and focused on the challenging geo-political, technological, social and physical landscape facing all New Zealanders.
Click to register and for more information.
This is the eighth seminar in the Future Challenges series of Critical Thinking and Values-based Leadership.
Democracy is not neat, easy, or guaranteed. It is under assault around the world from old foes such as ignorance and dictatorships, and new foes such as digital media misinformation and AI bots. This seminar will examine the explosion of large language models such as ChatGPT, the difficulty of being able to discern what is true, and the value of social cohesion and governance. With moderators:
Neil Jacobstein - Chair AI & Robotics Singularity University, Aspen NZ Director
Sinead Boucher - CEO and owner STUFF Ltd
Miriam Lips - Prof. Digital Government Victoria University of Wellington
Click to register and for more information.
Final forum
Great Power Rivalry | March 2nd | 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm
The 2023 Aspen New Zealand Summer Series: Geopolitical Challenges will analyse the current geopolitical challenges surrounding our region and discuss what they mean for New Zealand. With expert panellists and moderators in international relations, security, and defence, the three forums will be held during February and March on Indo Pacific, North Asia and Great Power Rivalry.
Click to register and for more information.
Join us for this free virtual event on 20 February 2023, to hear NZ’s Ambassador Hawke in conversation with Germany’s Ambassador Mezenbach, as they discuss German-New Zealand ties, amid changing geopolitical realities.
In the spirit of Jeffersonian dinners held in the United States, Aspen Dialogue Dinners are throughout the year in Queenstown.
The conversation is lightly guided and focused on the challenging geo-political, technological, social and physical landscape facing all New Zealanders.
Click to register and for more information.
In the spirit of Jeffersonian dinners held in the United States, Aspen Dialogue Dinners are throughout the year in Queenstown.
One table. One discussion. One topic.
The conversation is lightly guided and focused on the challenging geo-political, technological, social and physical landscape facing all New Zealanders.
Wednesday 9th November | ‘Democracy & Trust’
The global launch of the Aspen Institute In Favour of Pure Science Global Report & Symposium, compiled in conjunction with the research and findings of the Institute's international partners.
Wednesday 26th October | 7.00 am - 8.30 am
Professor Richard Blaikie, Deputy VC of the University of Otago (Research and Enterprise), will discuss the report's findings and initiatives.
This Intergenerational Challenges seminar is the seventh in the Aspen Institute New Zealand series on Critical Thinking and Values Based Leadership. The seminar focuses on the critical importance of the temporal aspects of decision making and how our decisions affect the very young and future generations.
Tuesday 30 August | 9am to 11:30am and 1:30pm to 4pm
Wednesday 31 August | 9am to 11:30am
With moderators:
Neil Jacobstein - Chair AI & Robotics Singularity University, Aspen NZ Director
Dr. Susan Houge MacKenzie - Associate Professor in the University of Otago School of Business
Sir Bill English - former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Aspen NZ Director
In the spirit of Jeffersonian dinners held in the United States, Aspen Dialogue Dinners are throughout the year in Queenstown.
One table. One discussion. One topic.
The conversation is lightly guided and focused on the challenging geo-political, technological, social and physical landscape facing all New Zealanders.
Demographics as a field is fundamental, but is demographics destiny? Can we alter some demographic trends to alter our destiny? How does demographics affect identity - who are "we"? Is there ever a "them"? What is New Zealand's population plan, why does it matter, and what might be done to make it more foresighted and effective?
Wednesday 27 April | 9am to 11:30am and 1:30pm to 4pm
Thursday 28 April | 9am to 11:30am
Online seminar with moderators: Neil Jacobstein - Chair AI & Robotics Singularity University, MediaX Distinguished Scholar Stanford University; Prof. Alan Gamlen - Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at The Australian National University; Prof. Paul Spoonley - Honorary Research Associate, Te Kura Pukenga Tangata, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University and Chair, Metropolis International. Read more …
Webinar
A conversation with our partner, The Aspen Institute Kyiv to share first hand experience of what is at stake in Ukraine and explore the implications of the war on Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and the World.
Moderated by our chair, the Rt. Hon. Sir Don McKinnon, Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand with panel:
Pavlo Klimkin, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2014-2019)
Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia
Aliona Shkrum, Member of Parliament of Ukraine
A conversation to bring a New Zealand perspective on the state of pure research around the world. This discussion will contribute to the final report by Aspen Institute’s Science & Society Program.
Wednesday 29th September, 2021, 9.00am - 11.00am
More information here …
Misinformation Challenges is the fifth seminar in our Future Challenges: Systems Thinking and Values based Leadership series. What are misinformation and disinformation? What role does money play in influence operations that promote misinformation? Is New Zealand as vulnerable as other countries like the US? What are the future possibilities for improving our misinformation defenses?
Wednesday 22 Sep | 9am to 11:30am and 1:30pm to 4pm, and
Thursday 23 Sep | 9am to 11:30am
With moderators from Singularity University, Massey University and Google New Zealand:
Neil Jacobstein, Chair AI & Robotics Singularity University, MediaX Distinguished Scholar Stanford University
Prof. Claire Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor College of Creative Arts, Massey University
Ross Young, Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google New Zealand
More information here …
Trade Challenges is the fourth seminar in the Future Challenges: Systems thinking and Values based Leadership series.
June 15, 16 & 17 | 9am to 11:30am | online daily
With moderators expert in systems thinking, trade logistics, negotiations and foreign policy:
Neil Jacobstein - Chair AI & Robotics Singularity University, MediaX Distinguished Scholar Stanford University, Aspen Crown Fellow.
Charles Finny - partner at the government relations consultancy Saunders Unsworth, Director New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, specialising in New Zealand’s bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations and commentary.
Prof. Robert Patman - one of the University of Otago’s inaugural Sesquicentennial Distinguished Chairs and Professor of International Relations, well known author and contributor to the national and international media on global issues and events.
In partnership with the Wakatipu Music Festival, the Aspen Institute New Zealand presents an in-depth conversation with international experts exploring the intersection of the arts and sciences,
Professor Cathy Stinear and Neil Jacobstein.
Register here. Attendance is complimentary.
The third seminar in the Future Challenges: Systems Thinking and Values based Leadership Series.
April 14, 15 & 16, 2021 | Online 9am to 11:30am over three mornings
Moderated by experts in systems sciences, values-based leadership, climate change, and policy formation:
Neil Jacobstein - Aspen Crown Fellow, Chair AI Robotics Singularity University, MediaX Distinguished Scholar Stanford University
Associate Professor Sara Walton - University of Otago Business School
Prof. Tim Naish - Earth Sciences, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington
A virtual, cross-disciplinary conversation that will consider how to advance the emerging field of neuroarts in partnership with the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine and Society Program.
Please note this workshop is FULL.
The NextGen Network brings together future leaders from the Aspen Institute International Network of Partners from the fields of technology, business, policy, journalism and civil society to think critically about the impact technology will have on the economy, society and our daily lives.
Roundtable discussion on
The future of United States relations with New Zealand, Asia and its Indo-Pacific Strategy with Nicholas Snyder, Political and Economic Counsellor at the U.S. Embassy.
Thursday 10 December at 4pm, Queenstown
Food Challenges is the second seminar in the Future Challenges: Systems Thinking and Values based Leadership Series.
November 3-5 | Online 9am to 11:30am daily
Moderated by experts in systems sciences, values-based leadership, food sciences, and policy formation: Neil Jacobstein, Dr. Vivienne Hunt and Prof. Warren McNabb.
Energy Challenges is the first seminar in the Future Challenges: Systems Thinking and Values based Leadership Series.
September 16th, 17th and 18th | Online 1pm to 3:30pm daily
Moderated by experts in system sciences, sustainable energy and policy formation:
Neil Jacobstein, Ben Irons and Sir Maarten Wevers
(FULL - applications subject to wait list)
COVID-19 has upended our daily lives on an unprecedented scale and time frame. This seminar will address scientific, technical and ethical aspects of decision making during times of crisis. We will use the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, considering the values-based trade-offs and consequences.
Moderated by Neil Jacobstein, Prof. James Maclaurin and Christine Maiden Sharp.
APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED. THIS EVENT IS FULL.
The Aspen flagship Executive Leadership Seminars explore the values, habits, and convictions that drive effective leadership for the benefit of society.
A one day seminar to examine two critical themes:
what is AI and why does it matter?
managing the benefits and risks.