Ignacio María Agustoni and Carolina Balay, professors at our School of Government, and Matías Marini, a student in our Master's Program in International Relations, participated in the third edition of the Raisina IE Global Student Challenge. Focused on analyzing the challenges of global governance, this year's central theme was the military and civilian use of artificial intelligence. The team, which received academic guidance from Carolina Balay, won first prize in the category of artificial intelligence applied to the military.
As part of the Raisina Dialogue 2026, held from March 5-7 in New Delhi, 84 students from 60 countries participated in the third edition of the Raisina IE Global Student Challenge. This initiative, co-organized by IE University's School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a public policy think tank, aims to analyze global governance in the current and future context. The School of Government of IE University also participated. Universidad Austral Professors Ignacio María Agustoni and Carolina Balay participated, accompanying different teams in the role of academic advisors. Matías Marini, a student in our Master's Program in International Relations, also participated.
The activity took place within the framework of the Raisina Dialogue 2026, an annual convention held in India that brings together political leaders, businesspeople, civil society and media representatives to discuss geopolitics and geoeconomics and explore opportunities for cooperation to address global challenges.
“During the two and a half months of work, I was able to delve deeper into the impact that artificial intelligence is having on global governance and understand how emerging technologies are reshaping international relations. The biggest takeaway was precisely understanding that current technological challenges are not only technical, but also institutional and political: they require governance frameworks, international cooperation, and state capacity to manage them properly,” explained Matías Marini.
From the perspective of an academic advisor for one of the 14 teams, each made up of six students from leading schools of government and global affairs, Carolina Balay described: “In my case, I had the opportunity to participate as Academic AdvisorI was fortunate enough to work alongside a team that focused specifically on the use of artificial intelligence in the military. I had the immense privilege of working with a truly exceptional group of students from India, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan. This diversity enriched the learning process. Over the weeks, fascinating conversations unfolded about how different societies approach the technological, ethical, and strategic challenges of our time, and a special dynamic of trust and collaboration quickly developed. I am also delighted to share that the team I worked with won first prize in the Challenge.”
Also from his role as a team mentor in the field of artificial intelligence applied to military use, Ignacio Agustoni shared his assessment of the experience: “I confess that I imagined the satisfaction would be primarily professional, but fortunately I was wrong. The greatest learning was personal. The collaborative work with scholars From different countries, the horizontality to build a disruptive proposal with diverse theoretical anchors and the creation of a common space that transcends the international situation were, without a doubt, the most valuable aspects of the experience.”
During the trip, both Balay and Agustoni had the opportunity to be personally received by Mariano Caucino, Argentina's ambassador to India.
