'What's Next?': TRT World Forum's youth event to address global challenges

TRT World Forum, has unveiled the upcoming second edition of NEXT, an exclusive youth event aimed at addressing urgent global challenges and fostering the exchange of ideas. Scheduled for June 20, the full-day, in-person event will bring together young journalists, academics, NGO members, and impactful entrepreneurs who have made noteworthy contributions in their respective fields. It will take place at Istanbul's Zorlu Performing Arts Center (Zorlu PSM).

This year, new themes will be explored to seek answers to today’s most urgent questions on media, technology, planet, business, leads, sports, education, travel, collective action and accessibility. As part of the event, pressing social, cultural, and technological issues that will significantly impact the future will be addressed at panel discussions and keynote talks. NEXT aims to be a dynamic platform for young leaders, journalists, academics, members of civil society organizations, and entrepreneurs to articulate their visions of the future and provide inspired solutions for a more inclusive world. Last year, the event successfully convened a diverse gathering of over 1,000 young individuals from Türkiye and abroad.

They engaged in vibrant discussions on various topics, encompassing fascinating subjects such as space tourism, sustainable business models, immersive NFT workshops, and cutting-edge technology.

In addition to the intriguing panel discussions, the foyer area will showcase artificial intelligence and virtual reality experiences, provide opportunities for engaging conversations with special guests, host a dedicated social media corner, and offer workshop areas for participants to participate actively and learn.

Last year, the event successfully convened a diverse gathering of over 1,000 young individuals from both Türkiye and abroad.

They engaged in vibrant discussions on a wide array of topics, encompassing fascinating subjects such as space tourism, sustainable business models, immersive NFT workshops, and cutting-edge technology.

The event will host many speakers from Türkiye and abroad, including the Turkish chef and internet celebrity Burak Ozdemir, also known as CZN Burak. His panel discussion titled, 'Meaningful Engagement: Reducing the Impact of Disasters Together', will focus on the recent devastating earthquakes in Türkiye that killed more than 45,000 people.

Ozdemir's team transported supplies to various affected regions in the country, including Hatay, one of the most severely hit areas of the earthquake.

Asma Elbadawi, who was born in Sudan and raised in the UK and is both a basketball player and coach, will also be attending the event.

Elbadawi, who is also spoken word poet, has faced and challenged stereotypes throughout her career, notably contributing to the campaign that successfully overturned a ban on hijabs in professional basketball in 2014.

The event will also conduct the much anticipated exclusive talk with former football star Frederic Oumar Kanoute.

At last year’s inaugural event, NEXT featured 11 panels, 7 workshops, 26 main speakers, and attracted over 1000 attendees. Out of over 2000 applications that were submitted, around 1400 came from Türkiye while the rest were from international participants.

A diverse group of international guests participated in the event, representing various countries including the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Sudan, Chile, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Namibia, Tanzania, and Nigeria.

Registrations for the event can be made at https://next.trtworldforum.com/.