Youth & Technology | Hikma | HSIR

YOUTH AND TECHNOLOGY

This pillar aims to explore the way technology and digitalization have changed how the younger generations perceive and understand our societies and how rapid technological progress has impacted young people's role in international relations. Discussions over this pillar imply the analysis of new opportunities that technology can provide to the younger generations as well as the new obstacles that we are going to face. Topics like digital diplomacy, online regulations and the role of social media as a source of information will be covered, with the contribution of nationally and internationally acclaimed experts.

CONFERENCES

“Fighting Climate Change through Green
Communication” and Eco influencers: will squared pictures save the planet?

“Balancing Free Speech and Community Standards"

WORKSHOP

“Public Diplomacy: the new diplomatic frontier”

Conferences

“Fighting Climate Change through Green Communication and Eco influencers: will squared pictures save the planet?”

In this conference, HIKMA will address the topic of conflicts and focus on analysing their impact on the younger population. The first part of the conference will focus on two points. Firstly, what is the reaction to the outbreak of war, i.e. which paths are taken by those involved, such as armed resistance, staying in the country or not. Secondly, there will be the question of what is the role of social media within a context of war. The reference context is the ongoing Russia - Ukraine conflict. In the second part, the focus is on what the economic impact of the conflict is. More specifically, how it changes the working lives of young people and what impact it has on the labour market as well as analysing whether there is an increase in economic inequality.

Andrea Grieco

When he started working, he already knew he would be doing what he is doing today! Building a sustainability campaign that reaches people means learning about them and learning about what Acted Sustainability means, so he lived and worked in 9 countries. They called him an Ethical Influencer, he was chosen by the United Nations Foundations and the European Commission as a role model for young people for the implementation and communication of Agenda 2030, Top Voice Environment and Climate Change for LinkedIn Italy and Voice of the Ocean for UNESCO. An activist and sustainability strategist, he was a lobbyist for Amnesty International Italy and worked with the Hydrographic Institute of the Italian Navy, developing a project on One Ocean protection and seabed mapping and protection. He is currently Head of Impact at AWorld, the UN platform that guides people and companies to sustainable living. He loves communicating, especially about Sustainability and Human Rights and does so on Instagram (@andrea.grieco) and on LinkedIn.

Elena Dall’Agnese

Elena dell'Agnese is full professor of geography at the University of Milano-Bicocca, where she directs the Center for Visual Research. Her work has focused primarily on developing a broad-based approach toward "peripheral geographies." For this reason, she is interested in any form of seemingly innocent "geo-graphic representation," from movies to television dramas, animated movies and popular music, with a specific focus on issues of gender, race and power. Specifically, in more recent times she has focused on the relationship between popular culture and environmental discourse. She has published extensively on these topics, mostly in Italian, but also in English, French, Spanish, Bosnian, Croatian, and Japanese. She is currently president of the Association of Italian Geographers.

Carlotta Croci

Carlotta Croci is a student of Diplomatic and International Sciences course at the Forlì Campus and an Italian Youth Ambassador for The ONE Campaign, a global organization that has been working since 2004 through campaigns and awareness-raising activities to combat extreme poverty and preventable diseases, with a particular focus on the African continent. For the year 2023, The One Campaign has chosen as its focus that of the climate change crisis.

Balancing Free Speech and Community Standards: the Future of Online Regulations

Social media nowadays represents a forum for discussions where younger generations can easily express themselves, their needs and even their political opinions. Furthermore, online platforms have become the main source of information for young people. The growing importance of digital spaces leads us to ask critical questions such as: How to ensure respect in online debates? Who controls content on social media? How to prevent the spread of disinformation?
With this conference you will be able to acquire knowledge on the topic of online content moderation, particularly on the newly-adopted EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. Our excellents guest speakers will analyse the impact of this EU regulatory regime on both social media platforms and users bearing in mind legal, practical and ethical considerations.

Ana Malheiro

Ana Malheiro, Case-Handler at the Digital Markets Act Taskforce at the European Commission's DG Competition. Previously, Ana was the lead administrator in the Committee for Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament with responsibility for the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act. She has extensive experience in competition and regulation in the telecoms, transport and energy sectors having worked previously in a trade association, a national competition authority and a law firm. Ana holds a law degree from the Catholic University of Porto and an LL.M. from the Humboldt University Berlin.

Carlo Canepa

He has been working for Pagella Politica since 2018, taking over the role of editorial manager in 2021. He also collaborates with Internazionale, Valigia Blu and Good Morning Italia, and participates in fact-checking training events. As co-author, he has written a book on science and football, and a collection of illustrated short stories for children. He holds a degree in philosophy.

Workshop

Public Diplomacy: International Relations in the digital era

After an introductory explanation on communication strategies of public and digital diplomacy, participants will be divided into groups that will represent a specific country and will be involved in a simulation.
The participants, based on the material provided beforehand (posts, tweets, legal acts) and after a careful analysis of the type of strategy, will have to create an instagram profile that reflects the country assigned to each group. The aim will be to simulate a campaign to react to a certain geopolitical event. The campaign will be carried out using all the tools of digital diplomacy. Finally, the workshop will culminate in an exposition of the communication strategy in question, highlighting the difficulties, strengths and weaknesses of public diplomacy.

Francesco Olmastroni

Associate Professor of Political Science at the Centre for the Study of Political Change and Deputy Director of the Laboratory for Political and Social Analysis (LAPS), the Survey Research Center of the University of Siena.

Professor of Public Diplomacy in the MA programme in "Public and Cultural Diplomacy" and Political Communication in the MA programme in "Strategies and Techniques of Communication" at the University of Siena.

He acts as editor-in-chief of the Working Paper Series in Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Department of Social Political and Cognitive Sciences. Since 2021 he has served as Secretary of the Italian Association of Political Science (SISP). In 2023 he has been appointed as Chairman of the University of Siena's Survey Policy Committee. His main research interests are in public opinion, particularly in connection to international events, political communication, international relations and deliberative democracy.

Liz Galvez

Mrs Liz Galvez was a senior diplomat with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, taking early retirement in 2006 with the rank of Counsellor. During her 33 year career, she served in a wide range of diplomatic jobs in London and several overseas postings, including Finland, Central America and Romania. She has spent 12 years working in multilateral diplomacy: UN Geneva, OSCE Vienna (arms control and conflict prevention/resolution negotiations) and UN New York.

She set up and managed the Aspen Institute Romania until 2009, served as a course lecturer in Public Diplomacy and in Multilateral Negotiating Skills for DiploFoundation and is now a Senior Fellow of the Faculty of University of Malta.

She speaks operational Spanish, Romanian and French. She has a BA from the University of London in Latin and Spanish and an MSc degree from the University of London in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, and has successfully completed DiploFoundation courses on Internet Governance, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Meetings for Global Governance.

Piergiorgio Degli Esposti

PhD in Sociology and Social Policy, he is an associate professor at the SDE Department of Sociology and Economics at the University of Bologna. For SDE, he is responsible for the internationalization and scientific manager of the IT laboratory. Since 2009, he has been a member of Prosumer Research Group, Maryland University UMD. Moreover, he is part of Ces.co.Com (Centre for Advanced Studies on Consumption and Communication) and, since autumn 2013, he has been Scholar in Residence at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He is a Research Fellow at the international guest lectureship programme of the University of Bielefeld

EastWest European Institute

The Eastwest European Institute is an independent organization specialized in geopolitical analysis, organization of scientific events and training projects focused on international affairs and global dynamics, for students and professionals. Eastwest European Institute (EWEI) is the result of the merger between two success stories: the established and innovative experience of Associazione Diplomatici, an NGO with special consultative status in the United Nations Economic and Social Council; and Eastwest magazine, since July 2004, is the only European geopolitical magazine distributed – in the English version – outside its country of production.