Welcome your YIRLI 2025 Speakers!
Dr. Lisa Messeri
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Science and Technology (S&T) indelibly shape how we conceptualize and interact with the world around us. Assessing the impact of S&T is not only a technical project, but one that requires social scientific insight. Professor Messeri’s anthropological research focuses on the norms, aspirations, and consequences of work done by expert communities as they forge new fields of knowledge and invention. Her first book, Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds (2016, Duke University Press), considers how “planet” is not only a cosmic concept, but also a humanistic one. Her second book, In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles (2024, Duke University Press), seeks to understand how the recent resurgence of virtual reality hinged on a belief that technology could repair rifts in reality.
Through reading, teaching, and writing, Professor Messeri endeavors to link conversations in sociocultural anthropology with other fields of inquiry, including science and technology studies, media studies, cultural geography, environmental humanities, and history of science and technology.
Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, The Atlantic, Slate, CNN, PBS, and more. She has spoken domestically and internationally at academic institutions, film festivals, and museums.
Raoul Nyenimigabo
We are delighted to announce Raoul Jonathan Nyenimigabo as YIRLI's closing speaker! Born and raised in Burundi, Nyenimigabo's life took a dramatic turn after the assassination of his father, a political dissident, in 2015. Forced to flee the country, he spent seven years in Congo as a refugee. During his time in exile, he served as a Refugee Youth Representative and worked with the Red Cross and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a translator, bridging communication gaps between Kirundi-speaking refugees and French or German-speaking staff. Nyenimigabo currently studies Mathematics and Economics at Yale University, where he works on two projects: recycling biodegradable waste from rapidly growing urban areas in Burundi into organic fertilizer, and creating free primary schools in refugee camps within the Great Lakes African Region. As a courageous leader in the organization delegates will be simulating, we are honored that he is joining us and believe there is no one better to inspire the next generation of diplomats.
Hanscom Smith
Senior Fellow, Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs
Hanscom Smith is a retired Department of State Senior Foreign Service Officer. During his 32-year career, he served as consul general in Hong Kong and Shanghai, as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, and in various positions at the United States embassies in Yaounde, Copenhagen, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Kabul, and Beijing. He was also team leader at the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Muthanna Province, Iraq. In addition, Smith worked at the American Institute in Taiwan's Taipei office. Smith was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Japan. His foreign languages are French, Danish, Khmer, and Mandarin Chinese. Smith holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University, a certificate in political studies from Sciences Po Paris, and master's degrees from the London School of Economics and Princeton University.
Dr. Homeira Qaderi
Dr. Homeira Qaderi is an Afghan writer, activist, and educator. She has authored seven books, including a collection of short stories and her acclaimed novel Noqra: The Daughter of Kabul River (Rozgar Publishers, 2009). Before leaving Afghanistan, Qaderi served as a senior advisor at the Ministry of Education of Afghanistan.
A lifelong activist and staunch defender of women's rights, Homeira Qaderi was awarded the Malalai Medal—Afghanistan's highest civilian honor. She was a writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa in 2015. Her first book in English, Dancing in the Mosque: An Afghan Mother’s Letter to Her Son (Harper, 2020), was excerpted by The New York Times and chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best nonfiction books of 2020. Her books have been translated into multiple languages.
Qaderi has also held a residency at Harvard University and now teaches modern literature at Yale University