Scholars’ Circle – What is Social Media addiction? Social Media Algorithm Biases Interfere With Online Interaction – February 22, 2026

February 22, 2026 host

How do people become addicted to social media and what are the implications of such an addiction? [ dur: 30mins. ]

Ofir Turel is Professor of Information Systems (IS) Management, IS group co-lead, University of Melbourne. He has published over 250 journal papers, two of those titles include The Benefits and Dangers of Enjoyment with Social Networking Websites and Followers Problematic Engagement with Influencers on Social Media and Attachment Theory Perspective.

Most of our activity on the internet interacts with posts, memes and videos that are driven by algorithms. How might algorithms be biased, racist, or sexist, and how might they amplify those biases in us? [ dur: 28mins. ] Full length of this interview can be found here.

Tina Eliassi-Rad is a Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University. She is also a core faculty member at Northeastern’s Network Science Institute and the Institute for Experiential AI. She is the author of Measuring Algorithmically Infused Societies and What Science Can Do for Democracy: A Complexity Science Approach.
Damien Patrick Williams is Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Data Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of Why AI Research Needs Disabled and Marginalized Perspectives, Fitting the description: historical and sociotechnical elements of facial recognition and anti-black surveillance, and Constructing Situated and Social Knowledge: Ethical, Sociological, and Phenomenological Factors in Technological Design. Damien is a member of the Project Advisory Committee for the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Disability Rights and Algorithmic Fairness, Bias, and Discrimination, and the Disability Inclusion Fund’s Tech & Disability Stream Advisory Committee.
Henning Schulzrinne is Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Colombia University. He is the co-author of Mobility Protocols and Handover Optimization: Design, Evaluation and Application, Bridging communications and the physical world and Future internets escape the simulator. He was nominated as Internet Hall of Fame Innovator in 2013. He was Chief Technology Officer for the FCC under the Obama Administration.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Politics and Activism, Science / Technology, Computers and Internet, Racism

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Health care disparities on the basis of race in the U.S.- February 15, 2026

February 15, 2026 host

Health care outcomes in the U.S. differ substantially depending on race. How much are health care discrepancies based on structural and historical racism? What needs to change to promote health justice in the U.S. and what kinds of policies are needed to promote this change? How important is diversity of health care providers in building a more just healthcare system? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Keisha Ray teaches Bioethics and Humanities as a tenured associate professor in Texas. She is the author of Black Health: The Social, Political, and Cultural Determinants of Black People’s Health.
Ruqaiijah Yearby is the Judge Clifford Scott Green Chair in Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law. She is also Co-Founder of the Institute for Healing Justice & Equity and one of the Co-Founders of the Collaborative for Anti-Racism & Equity. She is the book chapter author of “Gender Bias, Mental Health Inequities, and Health Justice” in the book Mental Health Equity.
Dylan H. Roby is the Chair and Professor of Health, Society, and Behavior at UC Irvine. He is the co-author of Ending Structural Racism in the US Health Care System to Eliminate Health Care Inequities.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Health, Politics and Activism, Medicine , Racism

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – State and Nature, the effects of climate change on security; Insights on street protests in Iran – February 8, 2026

February 8, 2026 host

Under what circumstances might climate change lead to negative security outcomes? Over the past fifteen years, a rapidly growing applied field and research community on climate security has emerged. While much progress has been made, we still don’t have a clear understanding of why climate change might lead to violent conflict or humanitarian emergencies in some places and not others.

book cover showing dry landscape with one person walking through it. Book title is State and Nature, the effects of climate change on security.

Busby develops a novel argument – based on the combination of state capacity, political exclusion, and international assistance – to explain why climate leads to especially bad security outcomes in some places but not others. This argument is then demonstrated through application to case studies from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. This book will provide an informative resource for students and scholars of international relations and environmental studies, especially those working on security, conflict and climate change, on the emergent practice and study of this topic, and identifies where policy and research should be headed. [ dur: 38mins. ]

Joshua Busby is a Professor of Public Affairs and a Distinguished Scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law. He is the author of State and Nature the effects of climate change on security ( The 2026 winner of the Grawemeyer Prize for Ideas Advancing World Order ) and many other publications.

With protests rocking Iran, how much are these protests historically consistent with the long history of protests in Iran. We explore this history in light of the new round of protests How much more violent has the Iran state been against protesters? [ dur: 20mins. ]

Ervand Abrahamian is Professor Emeritus at City University of New York. He is the author of A History of Modern Iran and Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran and Syria.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Climate Change, Human Rights, War / Weapons, Refugees, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Security

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Trump’s Board of Peace & Gaza’s future – February 1, 2026

February 1, 2026 host

In support of the US peace plan for Gaza, President Trump proposed a “Board of Peace” as a transitional governmental authority to ensure Israeli military withdrawal from the territory. It was empowered by the UN Security Council to act on the organization’s behalf as a presumably neutral body to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance, rebuild the region that has been physically devastated from war, and oversee security in the return of refugees who have fled the conflict. But as introduced by the American President at the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos in January, it has become a controversial body. Trump advanced a vision of the body, one which includes a payment of one billion dollars (to whom it is still unclear) that could challenge the UN. On today’s show we start with an exploration of this new vision for the organization advanced by the US. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Stefan Wolff is Professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham. His latest book is Ethnic Conflict: Critical Concepts in Political Science. His latest article in the Conversation Donald Trump’s ‘board of peace’ looks like a privatised UN with one shareholder: the US president.
Francesco Grillo is Professor at Bocconi University and Visiting Fellow at The European University Institute. You can find his articles at the Conversation. His latest include Europe must reject Trump’s nonsense accusations of ‘civilizational erasure’ – but it urgently needs a strategy of its own and Donald Trump’s Board of Peace signed at Davos – key points I took away from my visit to the ski resort

The Board of Peace was initially and ostensibly created to govern Gaza in light of a peace agreement with the intention of removing Israeli military forces in exchange for a neutral transitional government. This was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 2803 with very specific tasks outlined, including aiding in the creation of Palestinian governance, the physical and economic reconstruction of the war-torn territory, the delivery of public services and humanitarian assistance, and the return of refugees. In this segment, we examine the Board’s ability to accomplish its defined set of goals. [ dur: 30mins. ]

John B. Quigly is a Professor of Law Emeritus at Ohio State University. He is the author of Palestine Is a State: A Horse with Black and White Stripes Is a Zebra and The International Diplomacy of Israel’s Founders: Deception at the United Nations In the Quest for Palestine.
Omar Dajani is Carol Olsen Professor in International Law at the University of the Pacific. He is the author of Negotiating Pluralism: Dilemmas of Decentralization in the Middle East (with Aslı Bâli) and A Two-State Solution That Can Work: The Case for an Israeli-Palestinian Confederation (with Limor Yehuda). He also was part of the Palestinian negotiation team at Camp David II in 2000 and has worked with the UN in peacebuilding initiatives, with a particular emphasis on building legal and judicial reforms in Palestinian governance.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Politics and Activism, Middle East, Occupied Palestine

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Monthly Archives: February 2026

Scholars’ Circle – What is Social Media addiction? Social Media Algorithm Biases Interfere With Online Interaction – February 22, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – Health care disparities on the basis of race in the U.S.- February 15, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – State and Nature, the effects of climate change on security; Insights on street protests in Iran – February 8, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – Trump’s Board of Peace & Gaza’s future – February 1, 2026

By Maria Armoudian