Our youth delegates

Our youth delegates

Mingling with world leaders, international travel, and an opportunity to be at the heart of the action... It’s going to be an exciting month for UWS students Melia Condon and Bridget Kennedy, both selected by Global Voices to represent Australia at high profile international forums in November.

Melia will be joining environmental leaders to tackle climate change in South Africa, while Bridget will debating foreign aid policy in Hawaii. Both students are now busy completing a two month Research Fellowship in preparation for their trips.

“It will be an amazing opportunity to see international diplomacy in action, particularly regarding such a highly debated issue,” says Melia, one of six Australian university students selected to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Summit.

Melia has already had the opportunity to meet Prime Minister Julia Gillard, during her pre-departure session at Parliament House. “It was spur of the moment and slightly surreal,” according to Melia who says the Prime Minister happily made time for the delegates on her way to a caucus meeting.

A final year Advanced Science student, Melia is particularly interested in the health effects of climate change and has made this the focus of her research.

Meanwhile Bridget, a Bachelor of Law / Bachelor of Social Science student, is putting the final touches on her foreign aid research paper and packing for Hawaii. Bridget will attend the 2011 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting and is looking forward to exploring her personal interest in the economic side of social justice issues on the international stage.

“I was very excited and quite surprised to be selected,” she says. “A lot of people have opinions about the government’s foreign policy, and they don’t have a forum to express them in – this is a great opportunity.”