Let´s meet!

Invitation

It is with great pleasure that we invite your school to participate in the 23rd Life-Link conference. This year, the conference will consist of two days of online sessions held on June 20th and 21st, 2022.

All Life-Link Friendship schools from around the world are invited to participate. Once their participation has been confirmed, the schools are invited to create a school team. It should consist of 4-6 students in the 14-18 age range, with one or two teachers. The conference will be held in English.

Expressions of interest

As in 2020 and 2021, this year’s Life-Link Conference will take place online. Due to Covid-19 restrictions on international travel and group gatherings, a place-based conference is regrettably not an option.

There are no fees for participating in the conference. However, schools are encouraged to actively support their participating teachers and students.

Schools are invited to send their expressions of interest in an email message addressed to the chairman of the Life-Link Board, Dr Lars Johnson, lars.t.johnson@telia.com, no later than April 20th 2022.

2022 Conference and the 3 C’s

We are living in challenging times – a health crisis, numerous armed conflicts, misinformation and the destructive exploitation of natural resources and our environment. This year’s conference seeks to reflect the multiplicity of challenges that the world is facing today - all through the perspective of sustainable development, small-scale actions and global student co-operation. The topics discussed at the 2022 conference will range from technology, to leadership, to organic farming and much more.

During June 20th and 21st of 2022, the participating school teams will explore a range of topics through interactive workshops and presentations held online, in which the students will get to discuss and explore possible solutions to sustainability-related issues in a multicultural environment.

Conference modality

The conference sessions will use Zoom as the online platform for an optimum online conference experience. The sessions will be structured in such a way that there are opportunities for participants to get to know each other, to discuss, to receive feedback, and to share and exchange knowledge, reflections and ideas.

Program and schedule

  
    Day 1: June 20, 2022 12:00 - 16:00 UTC

    Who
    Activity
  
    Conference organizers
    Welcome ceromonie
      
    Welcoming students, teachers and friends of Life-Link to the 2022 digital conference. Information about Life-Link Friendship Schools and the schedule for the two days will be presented. Schools will introduce themselves shortly to the rest of the group.
  
    Short break (5 min)
  
    Ms. Kia Salin
    Sustainability in Practice
      
    Ms. Kia Salin, a friend of Life-Link, opens the 2022 digital conference with a presentation about designing and constructing a sustainable home from scratch outside the small Swedish town of Söderköping where she also produces organic apples and honey using sustainable methods. In addition, Ms. Salin will discuss her line of work in the management and regulation of pharmaceutical by-products. She is currently part of a project which, under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program, seeks to tackle the issues of pharmaceutical waste in water sources.
  
    Break (15 min)
  
    Life-Link board members Alice Ekwall-Sundby, Anton Nyman and Daniel Demitz-Helin
    The Danger of a Single Story
      
      This workshop builds on a TED Global-presentation by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which explores the risks that default, unchallenged perspectives – “single stories” – carry, and how these affect our assumptions about people of different cultural backgrounds. Following a viewing of the presentation, students will be divided into breakout-rooms over Zoom to discuss the “single stories” that they may have about each others’ cultural backgrounds and/or countries, learn about the extent to which these “single stories” are accurate and/or incomplete, as well as discuss how these prejudices can be combated. Each group will then present their conclusions to the rest of the participants.
    
    Conference organizers
    Conclusions
      
      The session will be concluded with any final thoughts and/or reflections that students, teachers, friends of Life-Link or any board members may have. Information for the next session will be provided as well.
    
    Day 2: June 21, 2022 12:00 - 16:00 UTC

    Who
    Activity
  
    Mr. Georgios Savvas
    Technology for Sustainability
      
   Climate change and the changes it will bring is the issue that concerns the world more and more today. Climate change, however, is the result of the reckless action of mankind who, for profit and an easy life, is destroying the environment at an ever-increasing rate in recent years.  The key to reversing this difficult situation is sustainable development.  Science with the help of technology gives us the opportunity for this turn. The application of the achievements of modern technology on a small and large scale in combination with the change of lifestyle are essential for sustainable development.
  
    Break (15 min)
  
    Ms. Hiba Ballout 
    To Lead or Not to Lead
      
   Most educators, whether principals, coordinators or even teachers, forget that they are the leaders of young minds, who are able to empower them to find their own way and be leaders themselves. Being followers rather than leaders, most students graduate from schools not knowing the fact that they could be leaders themselves! In this session, several activities, inspirational videos and various discussions concerning leadership and its effect on the lives of our students are going to be presented. Based on information from books for Warren Bennis and Gary Hamel, participants will discover the different skills of being leaders; they will come out with a conclusion that leadership is a decision that they should make in order to create more leaders for a better future.
  
    Break (15 min)
  
    Ms. Christine Lesembui
    
      Christine from Tanzania has graduated from High School and is now pursuing further studies at university. Christine will make a presentation about her experiences from her life and school.
  
    Conference organizers
    Conclusions
      
      The session will be concluded with any final thoughts and/or reflections that students, teachers, friends of Life-Link or any board members may have. The conference as a whole will also be concluded.

Day 1: June 20, 2022 12:00 - 16:00 UTC
Who	Activity
Conference organizers	Welcome ceromonie Welcoming students, teachers and friends of Life-Link to the 2022 digital conference. Information about Life-Link Friendship Schools and the schedule for the two days will be presented. Schools will introduce themselves shortly to the rest of the group.
	Short break (5 min)
Ms. Kia Salin	Sustainability in Practice Ms. Kia Salin, a friend of Life-Link, opens the 2022 digital conference with a presentation about designing and constructing a sustainable home from scratch outside the small Swedish town of Söderköping where she also produces organic apples and honey using sustainable methods. In addition, Ms. Salin will discuss her line of work in the management and regulation of pharmaceutical by-products. She is currently part of a project which, under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program, seeks to tackle the issues of pharmaceutical waste in water sources.
	Break (15 min)
Life-Link board members Alice Ekwall-Sundby, Anton Nyman and Daniel Demitz-Helin	The Danger of a Single Story This workshop builds on a TED Global-presentation by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which explores the risks that default, unchallenged perspectives – “single stories” – carry, and how these affect our assumptions about people of different cultural backgrounds. Following a viewing of the presentation, students will be divided into breakout-rooms over Zoom to discuss the “single stories” that they may have about each others’ cultural backgrounds and/or countries, learn about the extent to which these “single stories” are accurate and/or incomplete, as well as discuss how these prejudices can be combated. Each group will then present their conclusions to the rest of the participants.
Conference organizers	Conclusions The session will be concluded with any final thoughts and/or reflections that students, teachers, friends of Life-Link or any board members may have. Information for the next session will be provided as well.
Day 2: June 21, 2022 12:00 - 16:00 UTC
Who	Activity
Mr. Georgios Savvas	Technology for Sustainability Climate change and the changes it will bring is the issue that concerns the world more and more today. Climate change, however, is the result of the reckless action of mankind who, for profit and an easy life, is destroying the environment at an ever-increasing rate in recent years. The key to reversing this difficult situation is sustainable development. Science with the help of technology gives us the opportunity for this turn. The application of the achievements of modern technology on a small and large scale in combination with the change of lifestyle are essential for sustainable development.
	Break (15 min)
Ms. Hiba Ballout	To Lead or Not to Lead Most educators, whether principals, coordinators or even teachers, forget that they are the leaders of young minds, who are able to empower them to find their own way and be leaders themselves. Being followers rather than leaders, most students graduate from schools not knowing the fact that they could be leaders themselves! In this session, several activities, inspirational videos and various discussions concerning leadership and its effect on the lives of our students are going to be presented. Based on information from books for Warren Bennis and Gary Hamel, participants will discover the different skills of being leaders; they will come out with a conclusion that leadership is a decision that they should make in order to create more leaders for a better future.
	Break (15 min)
Ms. Christine Lesembui	Christine from Tanzania has graduated from High School and is now pursuing further studies at university. Christine will make a presentation about her experiences from her life and school.
Conference organizers	Conclusions The session will be concluded with any final thoughts and/or reflections that students, teachers, friends of Life-Link or any board members may have. The conference as a whole will also be concluded.

This is a preliminary schedule and is thereby subject to change. A detailed program will be distributed as we approach the conference dates and will include the durations of each workshop/presentation. Both sessions are approximated to take place from 12:00 to 16:00 UTC. Please double check what this corresponds to in your local time.

We hope that you are interested in joining us and other Life-Link students and teachers from around the world in this year’s digital conference.

Caring Regards,

Chairman Dr. Lars Johnson, Anna Johansson, Alice Ekwall-Sundby, Anton Nyman and Daniel Demitz-Helin

Invitation to the 23nd Life-Link Friendship Schools Online Conference 20 – 21 June 2022