Scottish Council on Global Affairs scga.scot

Are we taking #nuclearweapons seriously? How can we advance global peace and security? What can we learn from Scottish and Irish perspectives on peace and disarmament?
A collaborative roundtable hosted by UN House Scotland and Irish Consulate - support from SCGA.
www.eventbrite.com/e/a-scottish...

@uofglaw.bsky.social @workersupportc.bsky.social

SCGA Insight: Exploitation, Precarity and Vulnerability The UK Seasonal Worker Visa scheme (SWV), a short-term labour visa route in the UK, is ostensibly beneficial to the UK economy and to foreign worker visa holders. However, despite regulations that see...

scga.scot/2025/10/02/s... @workersupportc.bsky.social @catrionacannon.bsky.social

SCGA Insight: Exploitation, Precarity and Vulnerability The UK Seasonal Worker Visa scheme (SWV), a short-term labour visa route in the UK, is ostensibly beneficial to the UK economy and to foreign worker visa holders. However, despite regulations that see...

🆕SCGA Insight report - Exploitation, precarity and vulnerability: seasonal workers on Scotland’s farms. This SCGA Insight is distilled from a larger supervised student research project undertaken in 2025 in the GO Justice Centre of the School of Law.

Podcast: The next 100 years of peace in the greater Middle East We are joined by Dr Ilia Xypolia from the University of Aberdeen, and Dr Zana Gul from the University of Stirling to discuss their SCGA-funded project on the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, its aftermath and...

With peace proposals for the region back in the news once again, a reminder of when SCGA looked at one of the reasons we are here in the first place:
scga.scot/2024/11/06/p...

A real pleasure to welcome a parliamentary delegation from Lower Saxony to Edinburgh.
The visit focused on citizen participation in democracy and petitions - and we discussed Scotland's politics, place in the world and SCGA's role in the public sphere.

World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and World Order Podcast Episode · Global Conversations, from Scotland · 29/09/2025 · 1h 31m

"World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and World Order"
Audio from a very timely lecture organised by the Stevenson Trust for Citizenship at University of Glasgow and co-hosted by SCGA in April 2025.

Professors Rita Abrahamsen & Michael C. Williams, Ottawa.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...

The Gilbert Scott Building at the University of Glasgow, with a clear and blue sky, suggests a bright daytime setting.

The University of Glasgow’s @uofgpolicy.bsky.social has appointed its first cohort of Practice Fellows. Six policy professionals will spend six months at the Centre exploring key policy challenges.

Read more on the #SocSciHub: tinyurl.com/2u2e8m6t

SCGA Report: Regulating Ransomware Through International Law An SCGA Report Paper addressing the application of international law to ransomware operation.

With cyber attacks and #ransomware back in the news again, a timely reminder of SCGA's report on Ransomware and the role of intentional law in combating it:
scga.scot/2024/02/27/s...

The National Security Strategy - Committees - UK Parliament The Government published a new National Security Strategy (NSS) on 24 June 2025. The NSS reviews the risks facing the UK and sets out plans to address them, structured under three themes: security at ...

UK National Security Strategy - #NationalSecurity
UK Government published a new National Security Strategy (NSS) on 24 June 2025.
A @ukparliament.parliament.uk Joint Committee is seeking views on how well the NSS addresses the range of challenges facing UK.
committees.parliament.uk/work/9201/th...

Innovation and global food security - Committees - UK Parliament The United Nations has estimated that global food production would need to increase by 70% by 2050 to feed a population of 9.7 billion. Science, innovation and technology have a role to play in sustai...

@ukparliament.parliament.uk Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee launching an inquiry to explore innovations that could improve agricultural practices around world and examine UK’s role in contributing to global food security.
#foodsecurity
committees.parliament.uk/work/9293/in...

A fascinating meeting on challenges and opportunities in #Space and related industries and research base, between colleagues from @bayerischerlandtag.bsky.social & Hanns Seidel Foundation, & Space Scotland with Consul General Hullmann, Michael Picard and Andrew Bowie MP @heriotwattuni.bsky.social

What happened when the Kyrgyz ambassador met the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow The Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow hosted the Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic to the United Kingdom.

www.lawscot.org.uk/members/jour... 🇰🇬

Festival Programme - Beyond Borders Festival

@scga.bsky.social is delighted to again be playing a part in supporting the Beyond Borders Scotland Festival this August.
Full programme details here:
bbintfest.com/events/curre...

Climate Change and Water Security in Central Asia - Asia Scotland Institute Central Asia’s pressing water insecurity, compounded by competing interests, legacies of antiquated Soviet infrastructure, and anthropogenic pressures, is

An online event about #climatechange and #watersecurity in Central Asia by our colleagues in Asia Scotland Institute - 30 July
asiascot.com/events/clima...

UK trade with the US, India and EU - Committees - UK Parliament The Business and Trade Committee is launching an inquiry into the UK’s trade deals with three of its most important partners: the United States, India, and the European Union. As part of this work, th...

@ukparliament.parliament.uk Business and Trade Committee Inquiry into UK trade with the US, India and EU
committees.parliament.uk/work/9177/uk...

The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability - Committees - UK Parliament The F-35 is a fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft, which is able to enter contested environments undetected. As part of a US-led programme, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) purchased and is using t...

@ukparliament.parliament.uk Public Accounts Committee Inquiry into the UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability

committees.parliament.uk/work/9275/th...

Banner for a new SCGA Insight report about migration and belonging relating specifically to Chinese immigration to Jamaica.

🆕INSIGHT REPORT - Migration and Belonging: Learning from Historic & Contemporary Chinese Immigration to Jamaica. This report explores what we can learn from history & anthropology to better understand today’s migration policies and policy discourse. scga.scot/2025/07/15/s... @yichizhang.bsky.social

Scottish Connections Fund: guidance Guidance on funding to set up a project to promote Scotland’s worldwide reputation.

If you’re based outside of Scotland, grants of up to £5,000 are available to support your project.
To find out more, and for full eligibility criteria, visit ➡️
www.gov.scot/publications...

Scottish Connections Fund 2025-2026 banner

The #ScottishConnections Fund 2025-26 is now open for applications. The Scottish Government is looking for innovative ideas from individuals and organisations that promote Scotland and bring together its diaspora around the world.

107th Rose-Roth Seminar: spotlight on security and defence challenges | News | European Parliament On 14 and 15 July, Parliament will host the 107th Rose-Roth Seminar in partnership with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA).

@europarl.europa.eu Seminar: spotlight on security and defence challenges
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres... 107th Rose-Roth Seminar: spotlight on security and defence challenges

Analysis is based on sentence-level semantic search of inductively-discovered threat topic groups, filtered to include the word 'threat'. Data sourced from the Edinburgh National Security and Defence Documents dataset. datashare.ed.ac.uk/handle/10283...

State-sponsored threats:
Both espionage and sabotage emerge as prominent concerns in 2025—espionage doubling from the 2020-2023 baseline whilst sabotage appears as an entirely new threat category—reflecting intensified state competition and the targeting of critical national infrastructure.

Missile threat salience rose 90% in 2025, likely driven by proliferation of advanced ballistic and hypersonic capabilities amongst adversarial states and the erosion of traditional arms control frameworks.

Hybrid warfare salience increased 67% by 2025, indicating growing governmental concern over coordinated grey-zone operations that blur the boundaries between peace and conflict through disinformation, cyberattacks, and economic coercion.

AI and emerging technologies:
Artificial intelligence appears as a discrete security threat for the first time in 2025, marking official recognition of AI's dual-use potential and autonomous systems vulnerabilities in an increasingly technology-dependent security landscape.

Military/Traditional Threats:
Military threats peaked early (2002-2003) and have maintained consistent but lower-level attention, with recent uptick in 2025, reflecting renewed conventional security concerns.

Climate: emerging priority
Climate-related security concerns were absent from early documents but emerged in 2009 and peaked in 2020. Notably, explicit mention climate threats have disappeared entirely from 2025 documents, suggesting a possible shift in framing or priorities.

Nuclear: persistent concern
Nuclear threats have maintained steady relevance throughout the period, with notable spikes in 2008 and consistent presence in recent documents.

Cyber: rise and plateau
Cyber threats first gained significant attention in 2009 and peaked in 2015. Unlike terrorism, cyber threats have remained consistently present but at lower levels recently.