International Youth Think Tank

25/08/2024

Today is the start of the IYTT Youth Conference 2024 and we are so excited about it!

Don't forget to catch the live streams:
Monday: https://tinyurl.com/MondayLiveStream
Tuesday: https://tinyurl.com/TuesdayLiveStream
Thursday: https://tinyurl.com/ThursdayLiveStream

23/08/2024

This Sunday, International Youth Think Tank’s 6th Youth Conference starts. It is special in many ways. This year it is not just an IYTT Youth Conference, it is also a Nobel Symposium in Peace with a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. It is also the first time the IYTT Youth Conference will be held in Africa.

The 6th IYTT Youth Conference and Nobel Symposia NS203 brings together 24 young people between the ages of 18 and 28, from the eight countries Botswana, Nigeria, Malawi, Pakistan, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.

“I am running across the continent preaching a democracy and an approach to peace that focuses on results, than divides the parties engaged on lines of freedom fighters and dictators, and siblings and foes. Attending the conference will widen my scope”, says Ambrose Ngobi, conference participant from Uganda.

“It’s a great opportunity to arrange our first Youth Conference in South Africa. My hope for the conference is that all the amazing 24 African conference participants will contribute novel arguments and ideas on how to realize a democratic, peaceful, and equitable future”, says Urban Strandberg, IYTT Manager and Co-founder.

Read the whole news item here: https://iythinktank.com/presenting-the-nobel-symposia-ns203-6th-iytt-youth-conference-2024/

FVZS Leadership Institute / Leierskapsinstituut Stellenbosch University Lindholmen Science Park

28/06/2024

We proudly present the 24 participants that will show the way towards peace and democracy in the International Youth Conference & Nobel Symposia 2024.

📍Taking place in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 25-29 August 2024.

Building on a dynamic interplay between the 24 participants, Nobel Laureates, scholars, and professionals, the overall goal is to inspire people and innovate democracy for a brighter future.

Read more about the participants: https://iythinktank.com/the-24-conference-participants-2024/

Conference Hosts: Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Stellenbosch University

The IYTT is hosted by Lindholmen Science Park

16/05/2024

Yesterday was the deadline for the open call to the 6th IYTT Youth Conference & Nobel Symposium, which runs in Stellenbosch, South Africa in August.

We got 195 applications to the 24 spots!

😍 Thank you all young people, for your curios questions during the call, your passion and for wanting to make a difference! 🔥

The call is now closed. To all of you that applied - we will get back to you by mid-to-late June.

Stay tuned with the IYTT by signing up to our newsletter at https://iythinktank.com/ -up and skim our web reguarly at www.iythinktank.com

Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study Stellenbosch University

08/05/2024

We invite 24 young persons who want to change the world!

This Nobel Symposium and 6th IYTT International Youth Conference is hosted at STIAS-Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, South Africa, on 25-29 August.

Watch this short film by Youth Fellow Mathes RAUSCH, our moderator of the conference, and help us spread the word!

Read more and register no later than 15 May: https://iythinktank.com/6th-iytt/

22/04/2024

On Friday we welcome you to the last seminar within the Gothenburg Democracy Talk series: Roland Paulsen, "Unlocking Potential - The Promise of Technology in Reducing Work Hours".

Roland Paulsen is a sociologist, author, and a Senior Lecturer at Lund University. Paulsen’s research focuses on the sociology of work, medical sociology, cultural studies, the meaning of work and also the meaninglessness of work. In addition to academic work, Paulsen regularly writes for Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's largest daily newspaper.

Programme and registration to the seminar:
https://iythinktank.com/upcoming-events/157/

📍 University of Gothenburg, Dragonen, Sprängkullsgatan 19, Göteborg
📅 Friday April 26 12.00-13.30 PM

This Gothenburg Democracy Talk is part of the International Youth Think Tank’s ongoing work on Revaluing Work Models and Monetary Measures. Following the presentation by our distinguished guest speaker, our Youth Fellows will reflect on the subject at hand and give a brief overview of the ideas developed by the think tank so far.

Youth Fellows’ Commentators Panel:
Domenique Alejandro, Anita Sammarini, Valeriia Andriienko

This lunch seminar series is organized by the International Youth Think Tank, and the Department of Law at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, in collaboration with the student-led lunch event organizer Brännpunkt Europa. It is financed by Gustav Adolf Bratts föreläsningsfond.

Roland Paulsen is a sociologist, author, and a Senior Lecturer at Lund University. Paulsen’s research focuses on the sociology of work, medical sociology, cultural studies, the meaning of work and also the meaninglessness of work

06/04/2024

Aslı Ceren Aslan is a journalist, editor, and activist from Turkey. Aslan’s work is largely focused on issues of women’s rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and the situation of Kurdish people in Turkey. She has been persecuted and imprisoned by the Turkish judicial system because of her journalistic work and social media activism. She is presently an ICORN resident in the City of Växjö, Sweden. In December 2023 she published her first novel, We Are Each Other’s Remedy in Turkish (Birbirimizin Çaresiyiz) and in Swedish (Bara vi själva kan rädda varandra).

This Gothenburg Democracy Talk is part of the International Youth Think Tank’s ongoing work on Democracy’s Need for Truthfulness and Journalistic Safeguarding. Following the presentation by our distinguished guest speaker, a pair of our Youth Fellows will reflect on the subject at hand and give a brief overview of the ideas developed by the think tank so far.

If you are interested, feel free to take part of our previously published Working Paper, Policy Brief and Youth Panel on the subject.

This lunch seminar series is organized by the the IYTT-International Youth Think Tank, and the Department of Law at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, in collaboration with the student-led lunch event organizer Brännpunkt Europa. It is financed by Gustav Adolf Bratts föreläsningsfond.

Programme and registration:
https://iythinktank.com/upcoming-events/asli-ceren-aslan-at-the-gothenburg-democracy-talks/

The IYTT is hosted by Lindholmen Science Park

26/03/2024

Folke Tersman is a professor of Philosophy at Uppsala University. He is also Deputy Director of the Institute for Future Studies and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His research interests lie mainly within a field known as “meta-ethics”, which focuses on the status and function of evaluations and moral commitments. Among his many publications are Folk & Vilja: Ett försvar av demokratin i vår tid. (People & Will: A Defense of Democracy in our Time. 2020) together with Torbjörn Tännsjö.

This lunch seminar series is organized by the the IYTT-International Youth Think Tank, and the Department of Law at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, in collaboration with the student-led lunch event organizer Brännpunkt Europa. It is financed by Gustav Adolf Bratts föreläsningsfond.

The seminar will be held in Room E44, Vasagatan 1, Gothenburg, and will also be live-streamed on our Youtube-channel. It is free to attend but please sign up below.

Warm Welcome!

Full Programme and Registration:
https://iythinktank.com/upcoming-events/folke-tersman-at-the-gothenburg-democracy-talks/

Brännpunkt Europa Institutet för framtidsstudier

The IYTT is hosted by Lindholmen Science Park

25/03/2024

You are young, bold and audacious. You look to the future. You do not accept the status quo. You want to change the world. Welcome to participate in a powerful encounter for change.

You apply by submitting a personal presentation and argumentation of why you should participate. Anyone at the age of 18 to 28, living in South Africa, by the time of the conference is welcome to apply.

Hope to see you there!

Details and registration:
https://iythinktank.com/6th-iytt/

07/03/2024

In September, the IYTT launched a collaboration with the Brussels-based think tank Friends of Europe, through Youth Fellows Lisa Lundgren and Silvia Papic. They have spent their autumn and winter facilitating focus group discussions with 100 Swedish citizens on the four themes of economy, climate, democracy, and security. The results from the focus group discussions, as well as from a survey, are the keystones in the newly launched report 2024 voices – Citizens Speak Up!

https://debatingeurope.eu/activity/2024-voices-citizens-speak-up/

Collaborating with Friends of Europe was an invaluable experience for us, as we not only got to, recruit to, and facilitate focus groups but also interpret overarching opinions and themes, and produce a Swedish report on the findings. At one point in the fall, we went to Brussels and got to visit our office and meet our colleagues in real life, which was a true highlight.

The findings from the Swedish focus groups were expected in some ways, since we both belong to the age group that was studied. However, some opinions stood out and what was most surprising to us was the strive and ambition that many people showed. The way in which individual citizens choose to bike to work in the rain instead of driving their car, how they engage in civil society organizations or political parties, how they have limited their fast fashion shopping or try to eat more plant-based. These are choices that are not always seen by others, things that are done in one’s own home and one’s private life, that actively contribute to a better society for all.

In times of economic recession, armed conflicts on several places in the world, and antidemocratic forces gaining power, it is easy to become cynical and pessimistic. After these focus group discussions, we have even more faith than before, in youth. We were astonished by all the solutions that young people presented on societal issues. We are the generation that will make things right.

We thank Friends of Europe for this great collaboration and look forward to more projects in the future!

Debating Europe