Yale to Host Free Symposium for High School Students

This coming April, the Yale International Relations Association (YIRA) will be sponsoring the 2020 International Relations Symposium at Yale (IRSY).

IRSY is a free, one-day symposium for high school students that will take place on Sunday, April 5 at Yale University in New Haven from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Lunch will be provided.

At the symposium, students will discover new dynamics behind complex global problems. IRSY has broad array of speakers, spanning from journalists to former ambassadors, will explore the factors which inform international relations, yet are often ignored by the headlines.

This year, the theme of IRSY will be International Relations in a Divided World: Bridging the Rift.

Students will have the choice between five critical fields of international relations: Public Health Threats, Climate Change and Natural Disasters, Migration, Borders, and Identity, Political Polarization, and Fractures in the Media Landscape. Within each topic, students will have the opportunity to engage in a lecture, seminar, and crisis simulation based on the issues in their topic.

All sessions will feature experts and leading figures in each field to create a unique and interactive educational experience for high school students. Case study seminars, crisis simulations, workshops, and listening to dynamic speakers will allow students to put the concepts they are learning into action. Past speakers have included Elaine Dezenski, CEO of LumiRisk, and Yale faculty such as former State Department Foreign Service Officer David Rank.

To register or learn more about the conference, please explore the website at irsy.org. The deadline for registration will be March 27.

For any questions, potential delegates or advisers should feel free to contact the Co Secretaries-General of the conference, Monique Nikolov (GHS ’19) and Bayan Galal, at [email protected] or the Under Secretaries-General of Delegations, Jonah Chang and Candy Yang, at [email protected].