Until 2015, the main funder of bicommunal initiatives in Cyprus was the US Agency for International Development (USAID). For those working on EU-funded practical dialogue initiatives today, what lessons can we learn from those times? Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen asks former USAID Senior Program and Bicommunal Program Advisor, Elizabeth Kassinis. The post Figure It – Episode 22: Lessons from Cyprus intercommunal dialogue with ex USAID’s Elizabeth Kassinis (09/05/2026) first appeared on Island Talks.

The Cyprus negotiations process puts far too much of the burden on two men in a room who have elections coming, and far too little on ordinary citizens. Sapienta Economics Director, Fiona Mullen, discusses how to do it differently. Links referred to in the original article at Sapienta Cyprus Snippets: flexible citizens, SeeD on preventive […] The post Figure It – Episode 21: Cyprus problem negotiations that are fit for the 21st century (12/1/2026) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this episode Sapienta Economics Director, Fiona Mullen, discusses proposals for a bank windfall tax put forward by the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) in November and the many reasons why it is a bad idea. This podcast comes from an article that first appeared in Sapienta Cyprus Snippets at sapienta.substack.com.   The post Figure It – Episode 20: why a Cyprus bank windfall tax would be a bad idea (19/12/2025) first appeared on Island Talks.

Cypriots are far more in favour of a federal solution of the Cyprus problem than we might think: yes, even when you get quite specific with the questions. In this episode Sapienta Economics Director, Fiona Mullen, talks to University of Cyprus Professor of Social Development and Psychology, Charis Psaltis, about the survey methodology and why […] The post Figure It – Episode 19: Cypriots are more pro-solution than you think (6/5/2025) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this episode of Figure It, economic historian Dr Alexander Apostolides of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance talks to Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen about how US tariffs could affect Cyprus in ways that policymakers might not be expecting. He also gives some advice on what policymakers could be doing to ensure resilience in […] The post Figure It – Episode 18: US tariffs might hurt Cyprus in unexpected ways (25/4/2025) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this episode Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Prof Amanda Perry-Kessaris of Law at Kent Law School to discuss a workshop last November with the Cyprus Peace and Dialogue Centre (CPDC). Funded by the Socio-Legal Studies Association the workshop ran a small test on two concepts: citizens’ assemblies and interspecies councils. The post Figure It – Episode 17: Opening up Cyprob imaginations with an interspecies council (18/2/2025) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this episode Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to process facilitator and peacebuilding practitioner Michelle Parlevliet of REOS Partners about the transforming effects of asking a broad cross-section of Cypriots with differing views to take the time to imagine four plausible but very different scenarios for the future of Cyprus. The Cyprus Futures project was the […] The post Figure It – Episode 16: Scenarios for the future of Cyprus (4/11/2024) first appeared on Island Talks.

Cyprus is more innovative than you think. In this episode Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Cyprus Seeds Managing Director Maria Georgiadou, and Innovation Programme Manager Margarita Kyprianou about the wide sectoral range of innovators in universities, research institutions, and Centres of Excellence in the Republic of Cyprus who have been supported by Cyprus […] The post Figure It – Episode 15: from research to market with Cyprus Seeds (16/10/2024) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this 14th episode of Figure It, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Mete Hatay, Senior Research Consultant at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Cyprus Centre, about the delicate question of the number of people who live in northern Cyprus. There has been no census since 2011, when the population (de jure) was counted […] The post Figure It – Episode 14: How big is the population of northern Cyprus? (6/9/2024) first appeared on Island Talks.

In this 13th episode of Figure It  Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to James Ker-Lindsay, Visiting Professor at the University of Kent, Research Associate at LSE and producer of the popular conflict/international relations YouTube channel called “Prof James Ker-Lindsay”, to discuss some little known facts about UNFICYP – the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus that […] The post Figure It – Episode 13: Things you didn’t know about UNFICYP (7/3/2024) first appeared on Island Talks.