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Ten 13-18 year olds from across the globe selected to work together for a yearlong research project

IGGY logoThe University of Warwick’s IGGY is organising a Junior Commission for the third year running.

Previously known as the International Gateway for Gifted Youth, IGGY is an educational and social network created by the University of Warwick in the UK to help gifted young people aged 13-18 realise their full potential. It gives members access to great educational resources and encourages them to work with top academics, student mentors and other gifted young people around the world to exchange ideas, debate, learn and explore in a safe environment. IGGY is available to bright young minds from across the world.

The Junior Commission 2013 will see ten IGGY members aged 13-18 work together on the subject of ‘Education and the Internet’ as they undertake expenses paid study visits to the UK and USA, extensive research, and structured debates online and in person, resulting in the production of a report of their findings to key educators and policy holders.

Following a gruelling application process involving essay writing and interviews by Skype, ten IGGY Members were selected to take part in the programme. The Junior Commissioners are: Racheal Earl (14) from New South Wales, Australia; Anne-Eléonore Deleersnyder (15) from Paris, France; Danish Faird from Islamabad, Pakistan; Beatrix Tung (15) from Singapore; Sathyam Patel (17) from Coventry, UK; Jurgen Woodbine (16) from Landgraaf, Netherlands; Aateka Vaseer (14) from Karachi, Pakistan; Lindsey Nkem (15) from Alberta, Canada; Gabriel de Sousa (15) from Hampshire, UK; and Kamogelo Matjila (15) from Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Junior Commission is a specially adapted version of the Warwick Commission tailored for the IGGY community. It allows a group of like-minded international young people to work through problems facing the world today assisted by an Advisory Panel consisting of experts in the fields of Technology and Education. This year’s Junior Commission Advisory Panel includes:

· Dr Michelle Selinger, the Director of Education Practice for the Global Public Sector practice of the Cisco System’s Internet Business Solutions Group. Her focus is primarily on education transformation in all areas of education and skills development. Michelle has extensive experience of working with governments and education bodies and institutions around the world in developing, developed and emerging economies on strategies for technology-enabled education reform.

· Lord Jim Knight, who was the longest serving Schools Minister in the last UK Labour government.

· Graham Brown-Martin Founder of Learning Without Frontiers; a global platform that brought together thought leaders, innovators and practitioners in some of the most challenging and provocative dialogue about the future of learning. Graham is now building a new organisation - Education Design Labs – with current projects including the development of leadership and innovation labs for a schools group in Sweden, and conceptual development of emergency response classroom units for refugee communities.

· Doug Brown, Director of consultancy STEP A whose purpose is to advise Governments and multinational companies on developing trends in educational technology. Doug was formerly a government advisor on technology in education, and developed the Birmingham Grid for Learning, the Virtual College of School Leadership, and led England’s ICT in schools’ policies.

Junior Commissioners will work together to define the scope, questions and output of their own research in which they will be asked to present their findings to others in an attempt to influence policy makers on suggestions for the future of technology and its role in education. The commissioners will consider the opportunities and challenges of letting students have open access to the internet in school and how the internet could change education over the next ten years. Their findings to date will be presented at IGGY’s Global and Gifted Conference in July 2013 as well as being made available for all to download from the IGGY website following completion of the project in Spring 2014.

Last year the 2012 Commission saw ten young people collaborate to complete a report into the current energy crisis.

2011/12 Junior Commissioner Nirali Patel said:

“My time as a Junior Commissioner has been a rewarding experience both educationally and culturally, and I have fully appreciated the importance of adopting an international perspective in a world that is becoming increasingly connected.”

Adrian Hall, Managing Director of IGGY says:

"Once again IGGY is providing a very exciting opportunity for its members to collaborate and explore a very relevant topic in today's world - Education and the Internet. Too often decisions are made which affect young people without consulting them. The Junior Commission gives them the opportunity to make their case about what is important to them and how it could change their own learning and life experiences."

Danish Faird, one of this year’s Junior Commissioners, says:

“I look forward to working with nine other people from around the world, striving towards a single goal and through the research and policies, making the world a better place to be. I believe that the Internet is going to be one of the next major steps in advancing the quality and reach of education, therefore it is extremely important to ensure that the web is regulated and maintained properly for children in schools. I'd like to play my part in making sure that happens.”

- Ends -

For more information about IGGY and press resources, please contact Jan McQuillan, Digital Marketing Manager on 02476 573 209 or by emailj dot mcquillan at warwick dot ac dot uk

For more information about the Junior Commission, please contact Louise Lochee-Bayne, Project Manager on 02476 151 019 or by email L dot Lochee-Bayne at warwick dot ac dot uk

Notes to Editors

About IGGY

IGGY is a social and educational network created by the UK’s University of Warwick to help gifted young people aged 13-18 realise their full potential. It gives members access to great educational resources and encourages them to work with top academics, student mentors and other gifted young people around the world to exchange ideas, debate, learn and explore in a safe environment.

About the Warwick Commission

The Warwick Commission was established by the University of Warwick in 2007 with the aim of drawing on the scholarly expertise of Warwick academics as well as practitioners and policy makers to address issues of global importance.

In the best traditions of intellectual discovery, the Warwick Commissions are charged with carrying out independent analysis of a particular issue with the goal of making practical and realistic recommendations about how to move it forward.

The aim of the Commissions is to make thought-provoking contributions to the debate thereby assisting policymakers to find solutions to sometimes seemingly intractable problems. The activities of the Commission and its Reports are intended as an exercise in public policy informed by rigorous scholarly and analytical thinking.

 



For more information about IGGY and press resources, please contact Jan McQuillan, Digital Marketing Manager on 02476 573 209 or by email j dot mcquillan at warwick dot ac dot uk

For more information about the Junior Commission, please contact Louise Lochee-Bayne, Project Manager on 02476 151 019 or by email L dot Lochee-Bayne at warwick dot ac dot uk