The 16th of December 2024 at the NATO SFA COE premises was ended the first step of the project having as title “A Cross-Cultural Examination: Enhancing Advising Through Intercultural Communication and Cultural Mediation”.
The Liberty Analytic Support Initiative (LASI) team, composed by 10 among the best and brightest undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students students from Liberty University, and coordinated by Professor ROENICKE Scott Walter presented an in-depth analysis of all factors that are to be well considered by an Advisor who is preparing to meet with his counterpart: Intercultural Competence (IC), cultural dimensions, religion, sex and gender perspective, language barriers, social classes dynamics, mediation and negotiation techniques, and education, as well as recommendations using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The analysis through a cross-functional approach seeks to equip Security Force Advisors with the necessary components of intercultural interaction with 3 main aims to:
- define the components of Intercultural Competence (IC) and demonstrate how Advisors can be assessed for IC using the Intercultural Readiness Check (IRC) tool;
- analyse cultural differences through the frameworks of cultural dimensions, religious differences, gender roles, language barriers, and social classes, integrated with best practices in mediation techniques;
- develop training recommendations for improving security force advisor interactions in intercultural contexts, integrating best practices from education and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The LASI presented an innovative and comprehensive compilation of cutting-edge research and evidence-based best practices, framed in a well-structured analysis that will positively impact Security Force Advisors while they prepare to adequately face the uncertainties of environments that are often culturally distant from Western countries.
