Abstract

Established in 2007, the NTS-Asia Consortium has grown into a network of think tanks and research organisations dedicated to advancing rigorous and policy-relevant research on non-traditional security (NTS) challenges. Over the years, the Consortium has provided a platform for sustained dialogue on critical NTS issues such as climate and ecological risks, health security, food, energy and water security, human security, and resilience in Asia and beyond.

The 2026 conference takes place at a moment of significant strain on the global governance landscape. Global institutions and international norms are increasingly challenged by intensifying geopolitical competition, protracted conflicts and growing contestation over the foundations of the international order. Recent developments, including the United States’ withdrawal from key international agreements like the Paris Climate Agreement and from multilateral organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO), disruptions to development and humanitarian financing and more assertive shaping of global governance by major powers, have raised fundamental questions about the future of collective action.

Against this backdrop, the conference seeks to examine how these shifts affect the governance of nontraditional security challenges. It will explore both the implications of a more fragmented global order, as well as potential pathways for cooperation, adaptation, and resilience in addressing NTS challenges.

The conference panels will focus on a range of interrelated themes, including the state of global governance today and its implications on NTS; the energy transition and water security from a just and inclusive perspective; food security and resilience amid trade disruptions; Planetary Health and governing ecological security; the future of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in the Indo-Pacific; and emerging biological and health security risks.

About the Keynote Speaker

Barry Buzan is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the LSE (formerly Montague Burton Professor), honorary professor at Copenhagen. Jilin, and China Foreign Affairs Universities, and University of International Relations (Beijing), and a Senior Fellow at LSE Ideas. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the British Academy. From 1999-2011 he was general coordinator of a project to reconvene the English school of International Relations, and from 2004-8 he was editor of the European Journal of International Relations. His recent books include: with Robert Falkner (eds.) Great Power Responsibility and Global Environmental Politics (2022); Making Global Society: A Study of Humankind Across Three Eras (2023); with Robert Falkner (2025) The Market and Global International Society: An English School Approach to International Political Economy; Timelines for Modernity: Rethinking Periodization for Global International Relations (2025); with Mathias Albert (eds.) The Anthropocene Crisis: A World System Science Approach (forthcoming 2026).