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U7+ Intergenerational Roundtable Series

The U7+ Alliance convenes students and scientists from across the globe for vigorous discussion and debate on the global challenges confronting future generations, from climate change and sustainable innovation to gender inequality and women's rights.

Part 1: Climate Change, Inequities and Intergenerational Justice

This event was held on May 19, 2021
Co-hosted by Georgetown University and the University of Cape Town
Convened by Northwestern University and the U7+ Student Leadership Board

Event Description:

Climate change and environmental degradation is a global challenge that presents serious threats to human health, security and economic stability. Social impacts vary widely, but the climate crisis will continue to disproportionately affect disadvantaged and vulnerable communities though climate displacement, lost livelihoods, food insecurity and adverse health impacts.

The inequities raised by the climate crisis have a strong intergenerational component. During this event, we will ask an intergenerational group of discussants and event participants to consider the trade-offs between economic prosperity in the present and near future, and the well-being of future societies. We will also discuss how to engage young people and the U7+ Alliance in wider conversations about equity and intergenerational justice amid the climate crisis.

Moderator:

  • Tom Banchoff, Georgetown University (United States)

Discussants:

  • Joanna Lewis, Associate Professor, Georgetown University
  • Koaile Monaheng, Student, University of Cape Town
  • Tyler Booth, Student, University of Cape Town
  • Olivia Kleier, Student, Georgetown University
  • Britta Rennkamp, Senior Researcher, University of Cape Town

Materials:

Part 2: Social Sciences to Tackle the Global Gender Gap 

This event was held on June 16, 2021  
Co-hosted by Sciences Po (France) and Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique (Morocco) 
Convened by Northwestern University (United States) and the U7+ Student Leaders Board 

Event Description: 

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report, the next generation of women will have to wait for gender equality: as the impact of the pandemic continues to be felt, closing the global gender gap worldwide has increased by a generation from 99.5 years to 135.6 years. 

Gender inequality is a characteristic of most societies. Recent years have seen slow progress in closing the economic participation gender gap, and to some extent backlash against women’s rights. 

Hence, both the global South and North share a common challenge of tackling gender inequality and bridging the gender gap. The Social sciences aim to respond to this challenge through knowledge production and dissemination. By assessing discrimination schemes and analysing the sexual division of labour — whether at the national, supra-national or global-level — the social sciences shed light on and help better understand the underlying mechanisms driving gender inequality, whilst also engaging in the evaluation of gender-sensitive public policies, and by so, participate in the effort to tackle gender inequalities in different settings and environments (historical, cultural, political, economic, …). 

Moderator: 

  • Kate Vivian, Deputy Vice President for International Affairs, Sciences Po 

Discussants: 

  • Hélène Périvier, Senior Researcher, Sciences Po – OFCE  
  • Bouchra Rahmouni, Full Professor, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique 
  • Carolin Beck, Student, Sciences Po 
  • Fatima Zahra Bouzoubaa, Student, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique 

Materials:

Part 3: Science and Technology Innovation for a Sustainable Future

This event was held on June 29, 2021  
Co-hosted by École Polytechnique (France) and Osaka University (Japan) 
Convened by Northwestern University (United States) and the U7+ Student Leaders Board

Event Description: 

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest crisis facing the world, but unless humans release their grip on nature, it won’t be the last, according to a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In the short term, the crisis accelerated the technological transition and brought about years of change in the way people and organisations in all sectors and regions work. 

In the long term, it has made clear that we must harmonize our relationship with the planet — to make energy and material consumption sustainable, and to ensure every young person is educated and empowered to appreciate the wonders that a healthy world can provide.

Although humanity has achieved incredible progress, we have taken the Earth for granted, destabilizing the very systems upon which we rely for survival. The question thus becomes how can we create a new economy in which value is derived from human and planetary health rather than exploitation? What is at stake is not only technological redesign and innovation but imagining new ways of organizing society and pursuing everyday life that people can accept emotionally. This transition will change and challenge industrial organization and labor markets, as well as the personal and professional development of workers, students, and the schools and universities that train them.

Innovation — which gave humans many of the tools to influence Earth systems — can be harnessed to ease planetary pressures. Beyond advances in science from multiple disciplines that can support capturing energy from the sun and closing material cycles, innovation should be understood here also as a social process of change, resulting from advances in science and technology that are embedded in social and economic processes. Moreover, innovation is more than science and technology; it includes the institutional innovations that ultimately drive social and economic transformations.

Moderator: 

  • Gaëlle Le Goff, Director for International Affairs, École Polytechnique 

Discussants: 

  • Atsuro Morita, Professor of Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University
  • Thierry Rayna, Professor of Innovation Management, École Polytechnique 
  • Shayan Khan, Student, École Polytechnique 
  • Émile St-Pierre, Student, Osaka University 

Materials:

Contact 

Contact u7summit@northwestern.edu for any questions or comments.