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Ten bright 13-18 year olds are invited to undertake a report on Education and the Internet to present to policy holders

iggy_logo_pink_rgb.jpgThe University of Warwick’s IGGY is organising a Junior Commission for the third year running, and applications for this prestigious yearlong collaborative project are now open.

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 study visits, 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.

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.

The Junior Commissioners’ findings 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.

IGGY is a social network designed to help gifted young people 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.

Last year the 2012 Commission saw ten young people from nine different countries including Botswana, Italy and the UK collaborate to complete a report into the current energy crisis. Vice Chancellor of the University of Warwick Nigel Thrift said:

“Warwick Junior Commissions offer practical and realistic solutions to seemingly intractable global problems, much like their academic counterparts, the Warwick Commissions.

"By harnessing IGGY's unique community of gifted and talented young people, the Junior Commission have been able to work across borders and with a distinctly youthful spirit… Junior Commissioners are some of the most gifted young people in the world.

"They will be among the leaders of their generation in 2025. We should listen to their ideas about the world they want to inherit, lead and pass on.”

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.”

IGGY members will be asked to 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.

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.

IGGY are currently identifying a group of respected advisors with global expertise of the use of technology in education to support the Junior Commissioners.

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."

Applications for the Junior Commission 2013 can be submitted online at www.IGGY.net where IGGY members will be asked to provide a personal statement and a 2000 word essay debating the opportunities and challenges in letting students have open access to the Internet in school.

The deadline for submitting entries is 1st December 2012 and selected Junior Commissioners will be announced in late December 2012.

ENDS

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

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


Notes to Editors


About IGGY

IGGY is a social network designed 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 part of the University of Warwick. Members can create their own profiles, make friends and collaborate with other gifted students around the world.

IGGY focuses on providing stretching content in Maths, English, Science and History, but also covers a wide range of other subjects and topical issues. IGGY is also working with companies to create projects that will involve students in real life issues and dilemmas, such as its “Water for the Future” project with Severn Trent and the Junior Commission.

About the Junior Commission

The Junior Commission was launched in 2010 as a specially adapted version of the Warwick Commission. The first topic was ‘Education as a Human Right’, followed by ‘Global Energy 2025: Challenging Tomorrow's Leaders’ and the topic for the Junior Commission 2013 is ‘Education and the Internet’. The Junior Commission invites applications from IGGY members across the globe to work on a yearlong collaborative project.

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.



Further Information

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

Visit the IGGY website