The Director of the World Bank will join a range of internationally renowned speakers at this year's Global Scholars Symposium in May.
The Director of the World Bank will join a range of internationally renowned speakers on subjects ranging from the environment and sexism to HIV, space exploration and indigenous rights at this year’s Global Scholars Symposium in May.
Environmental activist David Suzuki; Tara Cullis, writer, president and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation; Erica Kochi, the co-director of UNICEF’s Innovation Unit and Laura Bates, founder of The Everyday Sexism Project will speak at the event at Rhodes House, Oxford from 15-18 May.
Founded in 2008 by Gates Cambridge Scholars, the Global Scholars Symposium (GSS) brings together the world’s leading scholars studying on Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Churchill, Chevening, Clarendon, Weidenfeld, Commonwealth and Gates Cambridge scholarships in the United Kingdom.
Other speakers at the event are: HIV specialist Dr. Hannah Gay; the Flight Systems Manager on the Mars Exploration Rover Project, Richard Cook; Maori High Court Judge Justice Joseph Williams; the American Indian activist and economist Winona La Duke; Executive Director of the South Centre Martin Khor, and other world-renowned leaders. Jim Kim will be speaking via video message.
The theme of the 2014 Global Scholars Symposium is “Dare to Differ”. This year’s theme is a reflection of the fact that many of the world’s most influential people are people who were willing to challenge the status quo and act in the face of opposition and discouragement.
Across the three days of keynote speeches, panel discussions, debates, and interdisciplinary workshops, the Symposium will engage and inspire scholars to face the world’s most important global challenges.
This year’s Executive Committee consists of Katie Hammond (Commonwealth), Max Harris (Rhodes), Tracy Jennings (Clarendon), Sarah St. John (Rhodes), and Kate Williams (Commonwealth).
The Committee will work with Directors and Organising Committee members across all nine scholarships.
Katie Hammond says: “The Global Scholars Symposium is a unique opportunity for students to broaden their understanding of global challenges. Importantly, it also fosters an environment for students to think critically about how their research and careers can contribute meaningfully to solving these challenges. We are very excited for the amazing line-up of speakers we have for this year’s symposium. These speakers are world leaders whose work we feel reflects this year’s theme: “Dare to Differ”. We hope to inspire, and encourage students to think outside the box, and to really “dare to differ” in the way they think about global challenges and their possible solutions.”
The Global Scholars Symposium would not be possible without the generous support of The McCall MacBain Foundation and all the Scholarship organisations involved, including the Gates Cambridge Trust. For more information about the Global Scholars Symposium please visit www.globalscholars.co.uk.
Picture credit: Creative Commons.
