Conversations on social conflict with youth.
Why Conflict
Bombarded with concerning news almost everyday, youth around the world right now are facing a new era of social conflict and violence.
The nature of the conflicts and violence we are seeing right now often may seem less deadly, but are no less complex than those of the past. The most urgent humanitarian problems require collaboration in many fields.
Entrenched conflicts are becoming more fragmented in our everyday lives. More and more groups emerge from the deep, not only interlinking political, socio-economic and military conflicts, but conflicts with regards to medical practices, legal systems and artificial intelligence.
What We Do
Provide Open Platform
We strive to provide youth and university students in Ontario with an inclusive, engaging and open platform to discuss world conflicts from multiple perspectives and fields of study.
Panel Discussions
Discuss world issues with passionate colleagues and leading scholars in many fields to gain an eye-opening and engaging experience and learn!
Workshops
Provided for students who would like to discuss their research interests or on-going research projects with colleagues and scholars in a smaller group.
Collaborative Projects
Provided for students who are looking for another colleague who are interested in the same topic to start your personal research project. We also connect students with potential project supervisors.
Youth of the Times Mag
UTalkCon’s own Publication. With the help of Canada Educational Opportunities INC, we engage students to submit opinions pieces / peer-reviewed research articles to be published on our hard copies.
Fundraising Events
Raise funds for our activities and printings through social events and conference nights.
Why Youth
When more advanced/complex concerns are being discussed, youth are often being “othered” in the conversation of conflicts and possible means of interventions.
Some may argue that many young people are being offered the opportunity to study these conflicts in-depth for preparation of the future, but many young adults are still left out of this conversation:
- neurodivergent groups
- youth who are from under-privileged environments
- youth who are denied entrance to competitive opportunities due to many uncontrollable reasons
- or youth who simply deem themselves as incapable of contributing anything significant.
These groups are, however, more vulnerable and subject to the consequences of lack of recognition and intervention in many conflicts. Moreover, many ill-informed interventions to certain societal conflicts cause direct harms to the future of these groups of young adults who are overlooked in such conversations.
The lived experiences of growing up in the context of conflict and struggles for peace and justice are no less significant in youth than those in adults. If anything, youths may struggle more with the lack of information and misguidance due to inaccessibility to advocate for themselves.
In the end, our society as a whole would more likely fail at improving the world if we fail to provide a sense of inclusiveness for the future generation when discussing world conflicts.
