Abu Dhabi / Saint Petersburg — June 2026 

ADSM’s Office of International Affairs convened an international roundtable on energy transformation, bringing together colleagues from Saint Petersburg State University of Economics (UNECON) to explore how digital systems and artificial intelligence are reshaping energy efficiency and energy security. 

The session was hybrid, hosted in person in Saint Petersburg, with ADSM’s participation online from Abu Dhabi. 

Elena Gorbashko, UNECON’s Vice-Rector for Research Affairs, and Dr. Marc Poulin, ADSM’s President, opened by highlighting the value of deepening international cooperation in energy and sustainable development. From there, the conversation landed on common ground: despite very different resource bases and geographies, Russia and the Arab world are working through many of the same questions around energy transformation, digitalization, and security. 

Timur Ismailov, who leads UNECON’s Center for Energy Efficiency and Digital Transformation, walked us through global trends in the energy transition and where Russian-Arab cooperation could be headed next. Dr. Marina Utevskaya spoke about financing large-scale energy projects. Representing ADSM, Dr. Mohamed Akoum and Dr. Mahima Mishra shared the UAE’s own journey — from AI adoption in the energy sector to the ESG agenda and the broader move toward a green economy. 

The discussion highlighted that, despite differing regional contexts, many of the opportunities and challenges surrounding energy transformation are shared. The roundtable reinforced the value of international academic dialogue and opened the door to future collaboration and knowledge exchange between both institutions.