In 2025, geopolitical competition, climate change, and economic instability, along with shifts in foreign and aid policy, pose major risks to international peace and stability. These global developments have serious consequences for conflict-affected regions, especially where fragmented state borders intersect with persistent state fragility, regional political interests, and entrenched communal tensions. Progress towards greater aid localisation and inclusion are threatened by global reductions in development funding, posing an array of complex challenges for policymakers and practitioners to navigate.
This conference featured presentations and discussions with local and international experts and policymakers, exploring evolving regional and subnational conflicts across borderlands in Middle East, Africa and Asia, and avenues for more effective responses.
Conference highlights
Panel 1: Regional perspectives on coping with a changing global context
This opening panel examined how shifting global power dynamics, escalating conflict, and growing climate insecurity were reverberating across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Despite widespread recognition of the need for integrated security, development, and peacebuilding responses, speakers noted that increased emphasis on defence and reduced foreign aid risked exacerbating instability. The discussion helped frame the conference by highlighting implications for regional and local actors and exploring how research, policy, and practitioner communities might respond to these evolving challenges.
Speakers:
- Biruk Terrefe – University of Bayreuth
- Maha Yahya – Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
- Mushtaq Khan – School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS)
- Sanam Vakil – Chatham House
Moderator:
- Ruth Citrin – XCEPT
Panel 2: Building trust in the shadow of conflict: fragility, legitimacy and contested authorities
This panel examined how trust is renegotiated in the aftermath of violence and trauma, and what legitimacy looks like when institutions and promises are fragile. Drawing on XCEPT research across West Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America, speakers explored how communities fill gaps left by the state and how these roles evolve over time. The discussion surfaced tensions and contradictions in efforts to reimagine belonging and navigate hybrid systems of authority, highlighting how trust and legitimacy are contested and reconfigured in conflict-affected societies.
Speakers:
- Azeema Cheema – Verso Consulting
- Craig Larkin – King’s College London
- Daniel Agbiboa – Harvard University
- Nafees Hamid – King’s College London
Moderator:
- Fiona McEwen – King’s College London
Panel 3: Geopolitical competition and the strategic contest for borderlands
This panel examined how intensified geopolitical competition had reshaped borderland dynamics, highlighting the strategic importance of these regions in global power struggles. Speakers discussed how conflicts in and across regions were influenced by broader concerns over vulnerability, encirclement, and the protection of economic interests or co-ethnic populations.
Speakers:
- Mariam Safi – Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS)
- Peter Salisbury – Fellow, Century International
- Suliman Baldo – Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker
Moderator:
- Adam Burke – The Asia Foundation
Panel 4: Climate security in borderlands: Conflict risks and reinforcing resilience
This panel explored how climate change and political fragility intersected in border regions, creating complex environmental and security risks. Drawing on examples from Bangladesh’s riverine borders and the Lake Chad Basin, the session highlighted lessons from adaptation and peacebuilding initiatives and considered strategies for fostering resilience in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.
Remarks from the FCDO speaker have been omitted in accordance with event guidelines regarding the sharing of official contributions.
Speakers:
- Ayesha Siddiqi – University of Cambridge
- Cedric de Coning – Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
- Tasnia Khandaker Prova – Independent researcher
- Will Reynolds – Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Moderator:
- Tobias Ide – Murdoch University / XCEPT Research Fellow
Keynote panel: Aid, influence and conflict response amid a shifting world order
This session brought together senior policy experts to discuss conflict and crisis response in the context of shifting international aid priorities and global power realignments. Panellists shared insights on how policymakers and practitioners were navigating a more fragmented and security-focused world, and reflected on the implications for international engagement in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Speakers:
- Frances Brown – Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former White House National Security Council Senior Director for Africa
- Hanna Tetteh – Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL)
- Jonathan Marley – Lead Coordinator, 2025 States of Fragility report, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Moderator:
- Ruth Citrin – Executive Director, XCEPT
Panel 5: Looking forward: Informing effective responses to enduring and emerging conflicts
This closing panel brought together reflections from across the conference and connected them with emerging conflict trends and the ongoing challenge of translating analysis into effective policy and programming. Panellists discussed how research could help decision-makers respond more effectively to transnational conflict and fragile borders, and considered ‘best practice’ in research, policy, and practitioner engagement to ensure that conflict response was grounded in evidence, attuned to local contexts, and addressed the complex and evolving drivers of violence and instability.
Speakers:
- Erica Gaston – United Nations University / XCEPT Research Fellow
- Heather Marquette – University of Birmingham
- Renad Mansour – Chatham House
- Tobias Hagmann – swisspeace / XCEPT Research Fellow
Moderator:
- Nathan Shea – The Asia Foundation