2022 conference

Four key activities took place as part of Leading Together 2022:

1. Student-led cultural performances

This allowed for creative and novel ways to respond to the 2022 conference materials and theme. Significantly, this segment demonstrated to faculty that artistic expression in the way of dance, song, poetry and film were a powerful tool for facilitating a learner-centred approach that was culturally appropriate, as well as a way of encouraging knowledge sharing through a diverse range of media.

2. Panel discussion with industry experts from India and Australia

This engagement provided students with the opportunity to hear from and pose questions to specialists of their fields. Panellists included Prof. Lindsay Oades, Director and Professor at the Centre for Wellbeing Science at the University of Melbourne, Mayura Vikramkumar, LGBT Activist and Assistant Manager and Inclusivity Ambassador of Equitas Small Finance Bank, and Smitha Sadisvan, Disability Activist and Accessibility Consultant for the Electoral Commission of India. Student delegates later reported that it was important for them to see a panel that reflected this year thematic areas of gender, inclusion and sustainability. This activity was also able to support an overarching objective of providing opportunities for horizontal exchange that lessen conventional hierarchies.

3. Student presentations addressing this year’s themes: gender, inclusion & sustainability

Presentations took place on Day 2 of the conference, with each institution provided with a 20-minute slot for presenting. Students took this time to lead discussions surrounding an array of topics, adopting engaging presentation styles that included PowerPoint presentation, poetry prose and student-directed and filmed short-film. This activity contributed to our objective of supporting students to feel confident in taking a lead on creating and presenting original materials.

4. Workshops

These took place on Day 2 and encouraged deeper reflection and engagement with this year’s dialogues on gender, inclusion and sustainability. Facilitated by Program Co-ordinator Kirsty McKellar, students worked together in groups to reflect on the panel discussion, their peers’ presentations and to address broader questions pertaining to, for example, the Sustainable Development Goals, and how these dialogues apply to contexts at the individual, community, institutional and global levels. This activity supported the aforementioned co-creation principles Leading Together was founded upon, in particular supporting collaboration between students at each institution in ways that enhance peer-learning and mentoring, internationalise co-curricular activities, and promote two-way capacity building with a focus on mentoring women and people with diverse SOGIESC  as leaders

The full report from the 2022 conference can be downloaded here.