24 October 2017
Two of Scotland’s future policy leaders were in London this week (Until Friday, October 27) as part of the British Council’s Future Leaders Connect programme.
Emma Jones, who is currently working towards an LLM in International Commercial Law with Arbitration at the University of Aberdeen, and Jimmy Paul, who works in the looked after children’s sector, connected with other exceptional individuals from across the UK and the world to discuss the most significant global issues facing their generation.
One highlight was hearing Kofi Annan and Graça Machel speaking in Trafalgar Square about challenges to peace. This was part of an event in partnership with the Elders, an independent group of global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela a decade ago to work together for peace and human rights.
Members of the Elders, including Ban Ki-Moon, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Ricardo Lagos and Ernesto Zedillo, joined the future leaders on a walk alongside hundreds of people through central London to lay peace candles by the statue of Nelson Mandela.
Afterwards, the British Council and the Elders held a public event in Church House, Westminster, which featured Future Leaders Connect members leading debate on how to build peace and bridge political, economic, social and cultural divides.
Emma and Jimmy now become the first cohort of the Future Leaders Connect alumni, alongside 48 of their contemporaries from the rest of the UK, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tunisia and the USA.
Future Leaders Connect participants were chosen from 11,000 applicants from around the world.
Applications for the 2018 Future Leaders Connect programme will open in February 2018.
