Figure It

Figure It – Episode 21: Cyprus problem negotiations that are fit for the 21st century (12/1/2026)

Fiona Mullen — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 12:21:28 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 20: why a Cyprus bank windfall tax would be a bad idea (19/12/2025)

Fiona Mullen — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 16:42:19 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 19: Cypriots are more pro-solution than you think (6/5/2025)

Fiona Mullen — Tue, 06 May 2025 14:34:11 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 18: US tariffs might hurt Cyprus in unexpected ways (25/4/2025)

Fiona Mullen — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 13:25:51 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 17: Opening up Cyprob imaginations with an interspecies council (18/2/2025)

Fiona Mullen — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:43:04 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 16: Scenarios for the future of Cyprus (4/11/2024)

Fiona Mullen — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:00:05 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 15: from research to market with Cyprus Seeds (16/10/2024)

Fiona Mullen — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 14:08:01 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 14: How big is the population of northern Cyprus? (6/9/2024)

Fiona Mullen — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 14:47:28 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 13: Things you didn’t know about UNFICYP (7/3/2024)

Fiona Mullen — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 14:01:35 +0000

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.

Figure It – Episode 12 (Energy Series 3) What does ENI’s latest gas discovery offshore Cyprus actually mean? (22/2/2024)

Fiona Mullen — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 17:59:48 +0000

In this 12th episode of Figure It and the third in a series of episodes devoted to energy, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Peter Stevenson, East Mediterranean Editor at the specialist oil and gas publication, Middle East Economic Survey (MEES). They discuss the announcement made on 15 February by the Italian oil and gas company, […]

The post Figure It – Episode 12 (Energy Series 3) What does ENI’s latest gas discovery offshore Cyprus actually mean? (22/2/2024) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 11 (Energy Series 2): East Med Energy and the Cyprus problem: why it is in the EU’s strategic security interests to get involved (8/2/2024)

Fiona Mullen — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 17:08:15 +0000

In this 11th episode of Figure It and the second in a series of episodes devoted to energy, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Ahmet Sözen, a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) and a veritable ‘ideas factory’ when it comes to new approaches to the Cyprus problem. Prof Sözen […]

The post Figure It – Episode 11 (Energy Series 2): East Med Energy and the Cyprus problem: why it is in the EU’s strategic security interests to get involved (8/2/2024) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 10 (Energy Series 1): What happened at the government’s regional energy gathering on 29-30 May? (5/6/2023)

Fiona Mullen — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:04:28 +0000

In this episode of Figure It and the first in a series of episodes devoted to energy, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen and analyst Andromachi Sophocleous put on their professional energy hats to analyse the regional energy workshop of oil and gas companies on 29-30 May.

The post Figure It – Episode 10 (Energy Series 1): What happened at the government’s regional energy gathering on 29-30 May? (5/6/2023) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 9: Mustafa Besim unpacks Turkey’s economic protocol with the Turkish Cypriots (10/6/2022)

Fiona Mullen — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 20:14:08 +0000

In this episode of Figure It, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Dr Mustafa Besim, Professor of Economics at Eastern Mediterranean University and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, about the economy of northern Cyprus, in particular the latest economic and financial protocol worth around 240 million euro signed between the Turkish Cypriot administration and Turkey. What are the protocol’s strengths, what are its weaknesses and what should be the priority for Turkish Cypriot economic policy?

The post Figure It – Episode 9: Mustafa Besim unpacks Turkey’s economic protocol with the Turkish Cypriots (10/6/2022) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 8: Migration in Cyprus: unpacking the numbers with Nasia Hadjigeorgiou (24/11/2021)

Fiona Mullen — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 20:14:41 +0000

In this episode of Figure It, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks to Dr Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Transitional Justice at the Cyprus campus of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), about the many and often confusing figures cited by Republic of Cyprus officials about various categories of non-Cypriots: regular migrants, […]

The post Figure It – Episode 8: Migration in Cyprus: unpacking the numbers with Nasia Hadjigeorgiou (24/11/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 7: East Med geopolitics with Madalina Vicari (21/6/2021)

Fiona Mullen — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In this seventh episode of Figure It, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen discusses recent geopolitical developments in the region with independent analyst Madalina Vicari. How significant is the EU’s application to become an observer member of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMFG)? With the Republic of Cyprus will holding the presidency of the EMGF and EMGF-member France holding the EU’s rotating presidency of the European Council in the first half of 2022, what can we expect from the EMFG? Will Turkey ever join? Are we heading for a rapprochement between Turkey and various key players in the region? And if so, what does it mean for Cyprus?

The post Figure It – Episode 7: East Med geopolitics with Madalina Vicari (21/6/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 6: Halloumi/Hellim and the Green Line Regulation (20/5/2021)

Fiona Mullen — Wed, 19 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In this sixth episode of Figure It, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen discusses the famous squeaky cheese of Cyprus, known as hellim in Turkish and halloumi in Greek, with the former president of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and current MP with the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), Fikri Toros. In April of this year the European Commission “registered Χαλλούμι/Halloumi/Hellim as a protected designation of origin (PDO)”. This means that only hellim/halloumi produced in Cyprus “according to the product specification” may now use the registered name. We also discuss the obstacles put in the way of the Green Line regulation (European Council Regulation 866/2004) and how these longstanding issues prevent intra-island trade form reaching its full potential.

The post Figure It – Episode 6: Halloumi/Hellim and the Green Line Regulation (20/5/2021) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 3: The hidden powers of gender equality (18/7/2020)

Fiona Mullen — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen and gender technical specialist Sophia Papastavrou discuss why gender equality is good for profits, why pandemics are always so tough on women, and what research says about finding a peace agreement that will actually stick.

The post Figure It – Episode 3: The hidden powers of gender equality (18/7/2020) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 5: Chevron and East Med gas (16/9/2020)

Fiona Mullen — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In this week’s episode, Sapienta Economics Director Fiona Mullen talks about the commercial aspects of natural gas with the East Mediterranean Editor of Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), Peter Stevenson. The recent bid by US energy giant Chevron to buy out Noble Energy - the lead company in the Cyprus Aphrodite and Israeli Leviathan and Tamar fields - has been challenged by the activist investor, Elliott Management. What is the difference between the two companies and what would either company’s ownership mean for East Med gas development prospects?

The post Figure It – Episode 5: Chevron and East Med gas (16/9/2020) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 4: Attracting students in the Covid-19 age (17/8/2020)

Fiona Mullen — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In this episode of Figure It, Fiona Mullen of Sapienta Economics hosts international student Femi Obasa to discuss the large contribution of universities in northern Cyprus to the economy and to hear tips on what universities globally can do to attract and retain students in the Covid-19 age.

The post Figure It – Episode 4: Attracting students in the Covid-19 age (17/8/2020) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 1: Talking Covid-19 in Cyprus with Rüştü Yücel and Christophoros Christophorou. What comes next? (4/5/2020)

Fiona Mullen — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

As new Covid-19 virus cases hit zero in the northern part of Cyprus and single digits in the south, I talk to Rüştü Yücel and Christoforos Christoforos how this compares with elsewhere, what it means for tourism and whether life can really ever get back to normal.

The post Figure It – Episode 1: Talking Covid-19 in Cyprus with Rüştü Yücel and Christophoros Christophorou. What comes next? (4/5/2020) first appeared on Island Talks.

Figure It – Episode 2: Comparing notes about the economic policy response in Cyprus with Mustafa Besim (2/6/2020)

Fiona Mullen — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode I talk to fellow economist Professor Mustafa Besim about economic issues in Cyprus. With the lockdown hitting small business and households, we compare notes about the economic policy response on both sides of the island and discuss how effective they can be.

The post Figure It – Episode 2: Comparing notes about the economic policy response in Cyprus with Mustafa Besim (2/6/2020) first appeared on Island Talks.