Authors
Kathleen Egan
Senior Program Associate, Carnegie Council
Brian A. Mateo
Director of Education and Special Projects, Carnegie Council
Carnegie Council’s Global Ethics Hub was full on Thursday, October 15, 2026, with over 80 people in person and over 500 people tuning in virtually to attend the Carnegie Ethics Fellows Symposium, a day-long conference showcasing the work of the Carnegie Ethics Fellows.
Over the course of two years, the Carnegie Ethics Fellows met with professionals across the international affairs field to learn about ethical decision-making, develop their capabilities, and become examples of values-driven responsible leadership. Throughout their Fellowship, they worked on group research projects on timely emerging ethical issues. The symposium culminated the Fellowship and featured panel discussions with experts working on water ethics, AI in healthcare, economic and national security, and AI in humanitarian response.
These were the same topics that the Fellows focused on for their group research projects:
Water as a Right or Commodity? Ethical Frameworks for Allocation Decisions
Redefining the Frontline: AI, Ethical Healthcare, and Non-State Power
Their Data, Whose Decision? The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Humanitarian Response
“I have loved every minute of the Carnegie Ethics Fellowship, and our cohort’s crowning achievement of publishing our research and running a successful symposium was no different," said Carnegie Ethics Fellow Nicholas Bayer. "In today’s very busy and fast-paced world, it’s so rare to have dedicated time for discussion about applied ethics, personal reflection, and clarification of our own values. This Fellowship has granted me some of that invaluable time to calibrate and strengthen my own ethical compass, and I’m feeling so much more confident and energized because of that.”
The day opened with a panel discussion on water ethics with Fellow Nadav Avihay speaking with Janice Beecher, commissioner at Connecticut PURA, and Daniel A. Zarrilli, adjunct professor of climate at Columbia University. The topic of water usage, especially when it comes to data centers, has gained increased public interest and inspired political organizing. Avihay posed a few case studies about other extractive industries, including mining, as lessons to be applied to water. Beecher and Zarrilli offered examples of both local solutions and greater regulatory frameworks for water management.
The following fireside chat covered new ethical paradigms of AI in global healthcare with Fellow Rebecca Distler in conversation with Sylvana Q. Sinha, founder and chair of Praava Health. The two covered Sinha's personal and professional journey into AI in the healthcare space and her commitment to health access and equity. They also discussed the major trade-offs, opportunities, and challenges facing this resource-strained industry.
The third panel on economic security and strategic investment frameworks for the Western Hemisphere was moderated by Fellow Joshua Acosta. Acosta was joined on stage by Will Freeman, fellow for Latin America studies at Council on Foreign Relations; Peter S. Goodman, global economics correspondent at The New York Times; and Jodi Vittori, professor of practice and global politics at Georgetown University. The lively discussion looked at Latin America specifically as a barometer for changing U.S. policy on economic security.
The symposium concluded with a panel on the ethics of artificial intelligence in humanitarian response. This was moderated by Fellow Nicholas Bayer, who was in conversation with Jay Chaudhuri, chief technology officer at Doctors Without Borders, and Eleonore Fournier-Tombs, chief AI officer for New York State. The two panelists brought decades of expertise from the humanitarian and tech sectors and addressed what this technology could mean for the world’s most vulnerable populations.
"What made the symposium such an important and necessary part of this Fellowship was the actual nuance and complexity of the topics being discussed,” reflected Acosta. “In international affairs it is very easy to fall into a cycle of siloed dialogue. Our symposium at Carnegie Council looked beyond this cycle and instead as a cohort, we preferred to invite experts who were willing to share practical perspectives about their fields. Enduring ethical frameworks that can be applied to real-world situations of global governance exist because of the moments that the symposium provided."
As part of its Next Generation Leadership Initiative, Carnegie Council looks forward to providing opportunities for future cohorts to convene at the Global Ethics Hub to explore ethics and leadership, invest in their own professional development, and provide research on emerging ethical issues in international affairs.
Access the full day of panel conversations.
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit. The views expressed within this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of Carnegie Council.
