[KS] FW: Engage Korea 2014 - September 2014 - Harvard University, Kennedy School - Call for Discussion Group Speakers...

[Robert Winstanley-Chesters]

please repost to the KS list
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Title: Call for young people with committed interest in DPRK to speak at a student-run  conference on September 13, 2014

The pursuit of peace on the Korean Peninsula necessitates the younger generation to be better informed about the historical, socio-political, and economic aspects of DPRK(North Korea). To take a step towards realizing this vision, students of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, with the educational consulting support of global student initiative Engage Korea are organizing a conference titled: 2014 Student Conference on DPRK: How can the international community effective engage DPRK?.

This conference will take place on September 13, 2014 at Harvard University in the USA featuring former diplomats, eminent scholars and NGO practitioners with years of first-hand experiences working inside the country. Another highlight will be “discussion sessions” where participants can present their works on DPRK to a wider audience, identify their future collaborators and network with the speakers. Please visit 2014StudentConferenceDPRK.org for more details.

We are looking for 6 – 8 speakers for discussion sessions. Interested applicants should send (1) an abstract (maximum 500 words) and (2) an email with answers to four following questions to Robert Winstanley-Chesters (r.winstanley-chesters at leeds.ac.uk) and Stina Bae (stina.j.bae at gmail.com<mailto:stina.j.bae at gmail.com>) by Monday, August 18.

*** Questions for applicant's email
•      What motivates you to share your work and why should others be motivated to hear it?
•      What new perspective/ideas does your work on North Korea bring?
•      Why is this particular forum the right platform for the dissemination of your work?
•      How does participating in this conference enable you to extend or continue your work?

Please refer to following information to help guide your application. We are looking forward to your daring, enlightening and innovative submissions!


Format
Two rounds of discussion groups with 3 – 4 presenters in each round; conference participants
       will choose 1 of 3-4 presentations to attend in each round
Each presenter will present for 20 minutes with 20 minutes for Q&A

Selection criteria for presentations
1) Author’s original work on topics relating to DPRK, which includes:
- an academic research piece on DPRK with its topic relevant to the conference theme
                - a comparative study with other country case
- a creative and artistic work
- a presentation of a (non) profit project
- published/recorded audio or visual piece, etc.
2) Preference to those who did not participate in the 2013 Engage Korea conference

Merits
1) A chance to present his/her work before public attendees and renowned experts on DPRK
2) A networking opportunity like no other (e.g. evening social with speakers)
3) Public release of the presentation paper (upon request)
4) We are also exploring other publication venues such a special issue to an academic journal or academic blog on DPRK

Financial supports
Due to budget constraint, organizers cannot support discussion group speakers. The speakers are encouraged to find own travel and accommodation funding from their respective universities and organizations.

However, we will try our best to provide supplementary supports including:
     1) providing a letter of invitation/endorsement to assist fundraising from other sources
     2) providing a short statement on the conference if the speaker fundraises via crowd-funding
     3) helping to find cheap accommodations such as home-stays and vacant places on Airbnb