Committees

Theme

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Conference theme

Since 2003, SSUNS has borne upon itself the onus of embodying a theme. From the conference’s committee sessions to the Isfeld Memorial Lecture Series and our Curriculum Component, the theme permeates through the echelons of our conference. While SSUNS promoted global citizenship in the inaugural year of the conference theme, more recent themes of the conference have focused on sustainability, the increasing relevance of local initiatives and defining the trajectory of our new decade. Each edition of the conference has thus strived to adopt a theme that reflects the geopolitical context of international relations in that year.

It therefore seems only most appropriate that SSUNS continues this integral tradition through the theme of We Ignite, hoping that delegates will leave the conference galvanized to begin real change. A referendum in Sudan juxtaposed with transitions to democracy in Egypt and Tunisia have altered traditional precepts of power and placed an empowered new generation at the helm of this metamorphosis. While initiating a call for action, this year’s theme is multifaceted in that it asserts the significance of restraint and diplomacy - channeling the fire within and directing it appropriately to prevent it from becoming destructive.

For this spark of change to be realized in its full impact, it needs to be one that is a result of collaboration. This year, more than ever, reasserts the importance of a collective need to instigate a transformation for future years to inherit. The entire global community stood in solidarity with Japan as it recuperated from a debilitating earthquake. A singular entity has consequently been cohesively structured through social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube and has spoken up against injustice and repression. As such, at SSUNS 2011, it is our earnest hope that we can contribute to fostering this transition from the individual to the collaborative, from I to We and that together we may ignite an unfettered enthusiasm to catalyze fervent renewal.