More than 1200 international delegates from 200 of the world’s top universities – including 10 students and four staff from Macquarie – converged on the small, alpine town of Garmish-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany this month to participate in the G20 Youth Forum.

The Forum featured three simultaneous discussion platforms – the Conference, the Summit and the Joint Sessions. Most of the Macquarie delegates took part in the Conference, which was structured as eight ‘Round Tables’, each covering a different area of the international diplomatic agenda. Every delegate was required to present a research paper on an issue relevant to their Round Table.

The presentations by our delegates covered a broad range of international and domestic issues such as Indigenous disadvantage, women’s empowerment and the adequacy of rights protection in Australia, with several delegates also honoured to serve as Secretaries-General or Chairpersons of their Table. One Macquarie delegate, Joseph Jacob, was selected to participate in the Summit as the Australian Minister of Education on the Committee for Family and Career Opportunities for Young People.

Student delegate Claire Bennett says that despite the challenging jetlag, the experience was one to treasure.

“A huge thank you to the PACE Program and GLP for their role in facilitating this opportunity. The support, encouragement and humour amongst the Macquarie delegation and the blend of personalities and diverse interests, combined to create a wonderful and interesting team.

“Many of the presentations I witnessed, challenged me to re-examine my priorities and make a conscious decision to translate the lessons I have leant over the past week into action” she said.

Macquarie University representatives and their presentations

Staff:

• Dr Kate Gleeson – The Challenges of applying gender equality principles in the Pacific – the case of Nauru (Chairperson)
• Dr David Inglis – Microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip technology for cheaper, better and faster health services
• Professor Ingrid Piller - Member of the  academic delegation
• Associate Professor David Pitt – Exploring the Use of Web Conferencing in Teaching Investment Management and Finance to Actuarial Professionals (Chairperson)

Students:

• Jennifer Tridgell – The Law, Human Rights and Double Jeopardy – Being an Indigenous Woman
• Patrick McGrath – Why are we still hitting our kids? A case from psychology for action on the use of physical punishment on children (Secretary General)
• Katherine Berthon – The urban ecosystem: integrating human and natural ecosystems (Secretary General)
• Francesca Manea – Nanotechnology: Small is the new big
• Omar Abawi – Base Erosion and Profit Shifting: whose problem is it?
• Luke Dominish – You Have (No) Rights: Bill of Rights and the Australian Exception
• Claire McMullen – The Poverty WITHIN
• Alexandra Grey – Forgoing links between the education sector, the NGO sector and the private sector in China (Chairperson)
• Claire Bennett – The Impact of Political Personalities and Persuasions on the Construction of Australian Colonial History: the Australian ‘History Wars’ (Secretary General)
• Joseph Jacob – Australian Minister for Education, Committee No 2. Family and Career Opportunities for Young People