Four University of Bath delegates attended the prestigious One Young World Summit in Montréal, Canada.
Each annual summit brings together young leaders from across the world to foster meaningful change. 2024's event brought together a gathering of future innovators, changemakers, and thought leaders, providing a platform for our delegates to engage with business professionals, policymakers, humanitarians, activists, and entrepreneurs.
Together, they tackled some of the most pressing global challenges, including indigenous voices, the climate and ecological crisis, artificial intelligence, health equality, and delivering lasting peace.
Miles Pemberton
Representing the Faculty of Science, second-year PhD student Miles, whose research focuses on the applications of artificial intelligence in chemistry, found the plenary on AI particularly inspiring. One highlight for Miles was listening to the conversation between Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and AI pioneer, Yoshua Bengio. They discussed the role of our generation as the 'transition generation' – the last to experience a world without AI and the first to harness its vast transformative potential.
Miles also led a successful workshop introducing the fundamentals of AI in an accessible way for non-computer scientists, sparking conversations around how data-driven solutions can faciitate positive change across different industries.
Sarah McLaren
Sarah, a third-year BSc (Hons) Architecture student from the Faculty of Engineering & Design, described the summit as transformative, giving her a wealth of new perspectives. She was particularly drawn to the indigenous voices plenary, attending a 'Sustainability in Indigenous Communities' workshop that deeply resonated with her.
Sarah looks forward to applying this new knowledge to her personal project, which involves creating an indigenous art exhibition in a university space. She also found the discussion on AI’s application in the built environment insightful and relevant to her current studies and is excited to continue her work toward positive change, especially as she begins planning the One Young World Bath forum for March 2025.
Oliver Showell
Representing the School of Management, Oliver, a final-year BSc (Hons) International Management and Modern Languages (Spanish) student, felt that every session at One Young World provided invaluable insights. While initially drawn to the discussions on AI, Oliver was inspired by a wide range of topics, from health equality to peace. With speeches from world leaders and Nobel laureates, he left the summit with not only new ideas but a broadened worldview.
Oliver also attended workshops on intrapreneurship and strategic experimentation, which solidified his ambition to one day build impactful businesses. The summit left him feeling more motivated than ever to use these new perspectives to can help with positive change.
Rebecca Rowney
Rebecca, a final-year student of BSc (Hons) International Development with Economics, represented the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences. She particularly enjoyed the panel discussions on sustainable growth in BRICS countries and the peace panel, where representatives from Israel and Palestine engaged in a powerful conversation on tangible solutions to the conflict.
However, Rebecca’s favourite parts of the summit were the workshops on methods to tackle violence against women and girls, as well as the networking sessions. In particular, the session focused on refugees provided valuable feedback for a product she is developing for female asylum seekers. Rebecca left the summit more motivated than ever to pursue a career tackling critical global issues.
Taking ideas forward for One Young World Bath 2025
Now back in the UK, our four delegates are already gearing up to organise the One Young World Bath forum in 2025.
They are eager to bring the wealth of ideas, inspiration, and actionable insights from the summit to the University of Bath community. The forum promises to be a dynamic and impactful event, offering students, staff, and members of the local community the opportunity to engage with the same global issues that were discussed in Montréal.
If you’re a University of Bath student interested in being part of this journey, you can apply to join the organising committee for One Young World Bath 2025. Find out how you can get involved and help bring about meaningful change in our community.