The Chair of International Relations and Diplomacy in the Digital Age examines the profound impact of digital transformation and disruptive technologies on global diplomacy, foreign policy, and governance. In a world where artificial intelligence, digital platforms, cyber networks, and emerging technologies shape both state and non-state actions, traditional diplomacy is being redefined. Big Tech companies have emerged as influential geopolitical actors, impacting global governance, regulatory frameworks, and international decision-making in unprecedented ways.
The Chair aims to analyze these transformations and equip students, researchers, and practitioners with the knowledge to navigate a digitalized international system. It explores how digital tools, virtual diplomacy, tech-driven public engagement, and data governance intersect with traditional diplomatic practice and statecraft.
Strategic Objectives:
- Investigate the influence of disruptive technologies and digital platforms on foreign policy, international relations, and global governance.
- Examine the geopolitical role of Big Tech companies and their implications for state sovereignty, regulation, and multilateral diplomacy.
- Promote interdisciplinary research linking technology, international affairs, and diplomacy.
Chair Director: Amb. Dr. Alejandro Garofali Acosta
Presently, he is Uruguay’s Ambassador to Austria, as well as Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna (IAEA, CTBTO, UNODC, UNOOSA, UNIDO, UNCITRAL), and also non-resident Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
He acted as the 2025-26 Chair of the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation and is currently a member of the Code’s leading troika.
He has extensive diplomatic and legal training in Latin America, Europe, and the United States.
His experience spans over three decades with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay and other international bodies, holding positions as Ambassador to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Ethiopia, and Kenya, Director of Institutional Relations at MofA Uruguay, National Coordinator for Uruguay to UNASUR (acted as Chair of the Permanent Representatives Council 2015-16), Permanent Representative to UN agencies (UN Environment, UN-Habitat, UNECA, the African Union, and other IIOO in Kenya and Ethiopia).
He is a lecturer and researcher at the European Institute of International Studies (Stockholm), with publications on diplomacy, digital governance, and artificial intelligence; a collaborating researcher for G20/T20 and the Research Group on Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Catholic University of Ávila, Spain (TEHIPADC/UCAvila); and has been an international consultant and lecturer in other fora/organizations (ORT University and Catholic University, Uruguay; Friedrich Alexander University, Nuremberg, Germany; UPSA, Salamanca, Spain, Stockholm University, Sweden).
Ambassador Garofali holds a PhD in Law and Sustainable Development Economics (Catholic University of Avila, Spain), an MBA (Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain), and a Degree in International Relations (University of the Republic, Uruguay). He is fluent in Spanish, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Swedish, and is intermediate in German.