Marilyne Andersen, director of GESDA, photographed at the Campus Biotech in Geneva, 7 November 2025. (David Wagnières for Le Temps)

Gesda chief Marilyne Andersen: We must act before crises force us to react. Appointed last April as director general of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator – Gesda – EPFL professor and physicist Marilyne Andersen outlines the challenges the foundation that aims to anticipate the impact of future innovations faces ahead of its flagship conference this week.

🕊️PEACE FOCUS. With many questions still unanswered about how the Trump-brokered Gaza peace deal will unfold, Geneva will host its annual peacebuilding gathering. Geneva Peace Week, the week-long event on all things peacebuilding in the Middle East and beyond, will feature a number of debates.

Attendees will look beyond Trump’s reaction to the Nobel Prize committee’s decision to award Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, while hoping that the US president maintains his interest in achieving “forever peace” in the occupied Palestinian territories.

🇺🇳WAITING FOR GODOT. On Wednesday, UN secretary general António Guterres is set to present his latest UN80 reform report, titled “Shifting paradigms: united to deliver”, to member states.

After an initial quiet reception following its publication ahead of UNGA’s high-level fanfare in New York, countries now have the next couple of months to deliberate how structural changes outlined in the document will be implemented.

Finance. The UN’s Fifth Committee, in charge of budgetary matters, will continue to meet this week. It has till December to consider the 2026 budget while, hopefully, figure a way out of a massive liquidity crisis that shows no signs of letting up.

Guterres’ proposals include phasing out UNAids, merging UN Women and the body’s population office, the UNFPA, integrating humanitarian supply chains and creating a data commons and tech platform to drive reform.

– By Paula Dupraz-Dobias

Forum des 100 – Can Switzerland weather the geopolitical storm? The world is in upheaval like never before: war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, Trump back in the White House and democracies under strain. Where does Switzerland stand amidst it all?

Join thought leaders, including former Swiss president Joseph Deiss, ICRC director general Pierre Krähenbühl, Geneva City councillor Christina Kitsos and our very own cartoonist Patrick Chappatte.

🗓When: Thursday, 23 October 2025 ⏰ 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
📍Where: SwissTech Convention Center 🏛️

💸Special offer for Geneva Solutions readers: Save over 40 per cent – CHF 249.– instead of CHF 490.– with code F100-SPECIAL.

👉 Find the full programme & register here