Amanda Sloat Keynote Speaker

Dr. Amanda Sloat is a leading authority on European politics, transatlantic relations, and U.S. foreign policy. She is Professor of Practice in International Relations at IE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs in Madrid, where she equips rising leaders with clear-eyed insight into Europe’s rapidly shifting landscape.

From 2021-2023 Sloat served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe on the National Security Council, shaping the White House response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and coordinating diplomacy with NATO and EU partners. Earlier, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean (2013-2016), she managed U.S. relations with Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus while steering policy on Syria, Iraq, and counter-ISIS efforts.

Her public-service experience spans Capitol Hill, where she was Senior Professional Staff on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the private sector, advising global clients on European affairs as Senior Advisor at the Albright Stonebridge Group. She also spent six months in Baghdad with the National Democratic Institute training members of the Iraqi parliament—grounding her analysis in real-world governance challenges.

Sloat earned a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Edinburgh and a B.A. in Political Theory from Michigan State University’s James Madison College. Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution (2017-2020), she has held visiting fellowships at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Queen’s University Belfast, the Czech Academy of Sciences, UNRISD, and NYU’s Jean Monnet Center, and has advised the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, and European Commission.

A prolific writer, she is the author of Scotland in Europe: A Study of Multi-Level Governance and influential policy papers on Brexit, Turkey, and German politics. Her commentary appears in The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Le Monde, and Time, and she is a frequent analyst for CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, and PBS. Blending scholarship, frontline policy experience, and media savvy, Sloat equips audiences with actionable foresight on the forces reshaping Europe and the Atlantic alliance.