It is my pleasure to bring you another captivating issue of Quarterly Access. In this issue, four talented authors bring unique and sharp perspectives on the issues of climate change, indigenous health, the EU’s continuing refugee crisis, and ISIS’ continued discerning use of media. All our authors are young professionals, providing a fresh glance at some of the biggest challenges in International Relations at this moment.

Sophie Pascoe presents an illuminating interview with Ursula Rakova, Executive Director of Tulele Peisa. In the interview, Pascoe explores the challenges to women’s involvement in the international climate regime, from Rakova’s perspective as a long time activist and advocate in the climate change debate. She reflects on her time at Paris COP21 and provides her thoughts for how the climate change issue can progress from here.

Saskia Llewellyn offers an interesting analysis of the effect the refugee crisis has had on the fundamental EU values of solidarity and human dignity, and its subsequent strength as an organisation in Europe. Llewellyn wades through different considerations of the failure of the EU and its member states to uphold these values in combination with the decline of support for EU-centred political parties. Llewellyn makes her case for why this is the most important challenge facing the EU today.

Kaitlyn Krahe reminds readers of perhaps one of the more shameful public policy failures in recent Australian history. Krahe builds her analysis of the failure of the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) to meet their commitment to “Closing the Gap.”  Inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous maternal-infant health outcomes is still a current issue in Australia, and Krahe presents a series of recommendations for how to address it.

Jessica Herne writes on the relationship between ISIS and both traditional and non-traditional media. Unlike any political ideological group before, ISIS use media to both its advantage – to spread its message of  power, capacity, and fear – and in some cases its demise – resistance from media can hinder propagation of its message. Herne presents an enriching analysis of these forms of media, examining how the targeting of different audiences through different channels effects the formation and subsistence of the ISIS ideology.

As always, a big thank you to our editorial team for their hard work to bring you this issue. Happy reading!

Nina Roxburgh, Editor-in-Chief