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Students from eight local universities will come together to tackle problems and create solutions on pressing environmental issues in the first ever Sila Abu Dhabi conference. The two-day event will encourage collaboration amongst 60 university-level delegates from across Abu Dhabi as they develop plans to combat local challenges in the fields of water, energy, and recycling and waste management. The winning delegate team will receive up to USD 5000 from the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Institute to support the implementation of the winning proposal. The event is organized by Sila Connection — a newly founded organization that supports collaboration between university students in an effort to tackle world issues from a grass roots level. The organization’s inaugural conference will be held from November 23-24, 2012 at NYUAD’s downtown campus.
Delegates representing Abu Dhabi University, Higher Colleges of Technology, Khalifa University, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, NYUAD, Petroleum Institute, Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, and Zayed University, will form groups to brainstorm achievable and sustainable solutions within three subtopics: Water, Energy, and Recycling and Waste. Throughout the course of the conference, student groups will receive guidance from an advisory board and speakers comprising professors and experts from the related environmental fields. Speakers will include Dr. Lana El Chaar, the Service Product Line Manager at General Electric Energy, and Paul Bierman, director of Sustainability at iMCC GREEN, a UAE-based sustainability specialty service company. The delegates will also benefit from the guidance of government and industry stakeholders with representatives from the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, GASCO Ltd., and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company attending.
By the end of the conference, each team will present a final project pitch to the advisory and stakeholder groups, and the group with the most sustainable, marketable, and efficient proposal will receive the final prize.
Sila Connection aims to develop a series of worldwide conferences with the aim to establish collaboration between local university students in developing sustainable and viable solutions to current issues in their local communities.
Sila Connection’s founder, NYUAD sophomore Alf Lim, said the inaugural conference is “a model that is looking to connect students, agencies, and local companies in new and exciting ways. It will create a network of do-ers and will foster a supporting environment for action.”
Sila Abu Dhabi is the first of two student-run conferences that NYUAD will be hosting this academic year. The Global Issues Network will take place in January, inviting undergraduates from all over the world to Abu Dhabi to create action plans focused on key issues relevant to the UAE: Energy, Technology, Education, Health, and Waste Management.
Sila Abu Dhabi’s closing ceremony, which will include the presentation of final proposals and announcement of the winning team, is open to the public and will be held at the InterContinental Abu Dhabi on November 24 at 6:30pm. To RSVP, and for more information, visit www.silaconnection.com.
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