Building Shared Futures
Doha Forum is a global platform for dialogue, bringing together leaders in policy to discuss critical challenges facing our world, and to build innovative and action-driven networks.
Youth Edition
Doha Forum: Youth Edition, powered by QatarDebate, brings together youth from around the world to discuss, share experiences, and shape shared futures
Main Themes
Doha Forum: Youth Edition will reflect the main themes of Doha Forum discussing "Building Shared Futures", focusing on four core areas:
International Relations and Defense
Economic Policy and Development
Cyber Security, Data Privacy, and Artificial Intelligence
Sustainability
Date
17 - 19 Nov. 2023
Participants
100+ youth from 75 countries
Venue
Education City Experience
Program Overview
Participants at Doha Forum: Youth Edition will take in various activities that will develop their skills and enrich their knowledge as well as live great experiences.
Skills Training
- Negotiation: Interpersonal Skills, confidence building and getting fair deals.
- Policy Drafting: Identifying problems and drafting policy solutions
Roundtable Discussions
The roundtables are thematic blocks that are designed to foster interactive dialogue between all participants, with a view to reaching policy-oriented conclusions and recommendations.
Panel Discussions
Thematic informative and interactive panels consisting of experts and youth activists, followed by discussion and Q&A by participants and audience.
Cultural Experiences
captivating cultural journey into the heart of Qatar, including tours and visits to cultural sites and museums.
Keynote Speakers
Bo Seo
Bo Seo is a two-time world champion debater and a former coach of the Australian national debating team and the Harvard College Debating Union. One of the most recognized figures in the global debate community, he has won both the World Schools Debating Championship and the World Universities Debating Championship. Bo has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, and many other publications. He has worked as a national reporter for the Australian Financial Review and has been a regular panelist on the prime-time Australian debate program, The Drum. He is the author of Good Arguments, a book about how skills transferred from debating can be applied to public discourse and personal relationships.
Bo graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University and received a master’s degree in public policy from Tsinghua University. He is currently a student at Harvard Law School.
Reem Ali
Reem is a Sudanese-American advocate originally based in the DC area. She recently graduated Harvard College with a degree in Government on the Data Science track, a secondary in Computer Science, and a language citation in Arabic. While at Harvard, she was involved with a variety of organizations, including the leadership of her campus Islamic and Arab Societies, working on the institutional basis to expand Muslim accommodations, and within her respective cultural groups, at acknowledging societal taboos, especially in speaking out about topics such as the anti-Blackness and racism often presented in the Muslim and Arab worlds. Currently, she is working on advocacy regarding the current war in Sudan, focusing primarily on humanitarian and diplomatic efforts. In addition, she has joined the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies this fall as both a research assistant and a fellow continuing her research on democratization in Sudan in the post-independence period, with a focus on the nation’s current war, it’s possible outcomes, and what the paths to democratization look like in a post-conflict Sudan.
Omar Alshogre
Omar Alshogre is a Syrian public speaker and human rights advocate, who endured three years of unjust imprisonment before being smuggled and brought to safety. Currently, he serves as the Director of Detainees Affairs for the Syrian Emergency Task Force, dedicating himself to the critical cause of advocating for the release of those unjustly detained. Omar’s public speaking engagements focus on the essential elements of Effective Storytelling, Leadership in Crisis, and Trauma as a Driving Force. He has presented his insights at several world-renowned universities, organizations, and businesses, including Harvard, Georgetown, CNN, Aljazeera, BCG and Spotify, captivating audiences with his compelling personal experiences and enlightening perspectives on the intersection of advocacy and personal growth.
Sara Almaadeed
Sara Al Maadeed spoke on a panel at the COP26 Youth4Climate Summit in Milan 2021. Her idea for forwarding sustainability through sport via Piezoelectric Stadiums earned her a spot on the Ideas for a Bold Future, a Qatar Foundation project pitched in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. Sara merges her love of science with her love of the environment, such as in her nanotechnology research. She was part of the Qatar University Young Scientist Center, where she fashioned a biodegradable plastic with the dielectric capacity to act as a battery in electronics to battle increased electronic waste. She now studies Physics at Qatar University to be able to pursue the field further. She represented Qatar at the MENA finals of the Injaz Al-Arab, where she oversaw the design and manufacturing of sustainably produced, reusable books centred around and made for children with disabilities. Sara is also an accomplished speaker and debater, having twice made the World Schools Debating Championship qualifying rounds and being awarded the 3rd Best ESL Speaker in the world.
Expert Panelists
Dr. Norman Finkelstein
Norman G. Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department in 1987. He is the author of many books that have been translated into 60 foreign editions, including THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering, GAZA: An inquest into its martyrdom, and most recently, I ACCUSE! Herewith a proof beyond reasonable doubt that ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda whitewashed Israel. He is currently writing a book tentatively titled, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It: Politically Incorrect Thoughts on Cancel Culture and Academic Freedom. His latest book I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom was released in 2023. In the year 2020, Norman Finkelstein was named the fifth most influential political scientist in the world.
Abdul Abdulrahim
Abdul is the co-founder & COO of Stears, a venture-backed data and insights provider that enables quick, accurate decisions for financial and operational opportunities, where he manages the growth, data and operations teams. Stears is one of Africa’s leading provider for macroeconomic research and analytics helping decision-makers operating and investing in the region – and it is proudly back Serena Williams’ venture fund. He trained as a data scientist at the University of Oxford and technology lawyer at Linklaters LLP. As part of his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Oxford, he completed projects on machine learning for natural language tasks which were presented at various conferences in the UK. He was also elected as a Fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Oxford to work on digital rights and modern slavery. Abdul has also advised the UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights on the use of data and machine learning by the tech industry where he led the parliament inquiry on the human right to privacy and preventing discrimination online. He also currently acts as an Advisor to the United Nations on the B-Tech Africa project, which promotes the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles by the technology sector in Africa.
Donia Abdelwahed
Donia Abdelwahed joined the UNESCO sub-regional office for the Gulf States and Yemen in 2018, as Programme Officer for the Science Sector. Since then, Donia has been working on implementing projects and activities in the fields of Environmental Sustainability and Biodiversity, Water Security, Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) as well as Disasters Risk Reduction. Donia holds a Master of Science in the field of Plant biotechnology. She has previously worked with the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture in the Sub-regional office for North Africa in Tunisia.
Prof. Eduardo G. Pereira
Prof. Eduardo G. Pereira is a worldwide recognized scholar specialising in Natural Resources and Energy Law. He has been active in the natural resources and energy industry for over 15 years and is an international expert on oil, gas and energy contracts and regulations. His experience in this area – both academic and practical – is extensive. He has practical experience in over 50 jurisdictions covering America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Dr. Pereira concluded his doctoral thesis on oil and gas joint ventures at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland). He conducted postdoctoral research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (University of Oxford, UK), another postdoctoral research at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law (University of Oslo, Norway) and more recently at the Institute of Energy and Environment (University of São Paulo). He possesses positions as a full-time, part-time, honorary, adjunct and/or visiting scholar in several leading academic institutions around the world. He is also a managing editor for the GSENRLJ and an associate editor of OGEL. He is also the author and editor of several leading oil and gas textbooks.
Prof. Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN (QC)
Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN (QC), FCIArb, is a Professor and UNESCO Chairholder on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at the College of Law. He is also Chancellor’s Fellow and Director of the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute), Afe Babalola University, Nigeria. A prolific and highly regarded scholar, Professor Olawuyi has practiced and taught law in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Professor Olawuyi has published close to 100 articles, book chapters, and books on petroleum law, energy, and international environmental law. Professor Olawuyi serves on the executive committees and boards of several organizations. He is Vice Chair of the International Law Association; co-chair of the Africa Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (2016-2019); and member of the Academic Advisory Group of the International Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy. Professor Olawuyi holds a doctorate (DPhil) in energy and environmental law from the University of Oxford; a master of laws (LLM) from Harvard University; and another LLM from the University of Calgary. He has been admitted as Barrister and Solicitor in Alberta, Canada; Ontario, Canada; and Nigeria. Professor Olawuyi is a regular media commentator on all aspects of natural resources, energy and environmental law.
Dr. Mohamed Aburawi
Mohamed Aburawi is founder and CEO of Speetar, an AI-enabled telehealth platform. Piloted in Libya and currently being scaled across the Middle East and Africa, Speetar links underserved patients in low-resource settings to a global pool of culture- and language-matched medical specialists. Following the recent storm floods that devastated Libya, Speetar has been co-leading the local emergency response, including through offering free digital access to mental health support. Before founding Speetar, Abuwari was a senior transplant surgery fellow at Harvard Medical School’s Center of Engineering in Medicine, leading the design and development of a novel discarded human kidney reconditioning system. Earlier, he founded front-line mobile surgical units during the 2011 Libyan Revolution. Abuwari’s work has been featured by Forbes, the BBC, Aljazeera, and NPR. He has been named a Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, Aspen Institute Fellow, and Ashoka Visionary for leveraging digital technologies to enable healthcare delivery in low-resource settings.
Dr. Houda Bouamor
Dr. Houda Bouamor is an Associate Teaching Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and a Research Scientist specializing in Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and Machine Learning. She is currently the Associate Area Head of the Information Systems program at CMUQ. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Paris-Sud University in France. She teaches several core and elective IS courses including web application design and development, data science, and natural language processing. Dr. Houda’s research interests are focused on Arabic NLP, processing user-generated content and social media analysis, and NLP in finance. Her significant accomplishments include publishing top-tier journals and conference papers. Houda actively contributes to the research community, serving as a program committee member for over 20 conferences. Furthermore, she has co-organized various workshops and shared tasks on Arabic NLP and Financial NLP in ACL and other conferences. She is currently the PC chair of EMNLP 2023, a leading conference in the field of NLP.
Dr. Halima Bensmail
Dr. Halima Bensmail obtained a PhD at the Pierre & Marie Currie University. She spent three years at the University of Washington and FHCRC as a postdoc and was a researcher in the Data Theory Group, University of Leiden. Dr. Halima held the positions of assistant and associate professor at the University of Tennessee and Virginia Medical School. Currently, she is a principal scientist at the Qatar Computing Research Institute and a joint associate professor at the College of Science and Engineering at HBKU. She is also a visiting professor at TAMU-Q. Dr. Halima published more than 120 peer reviewed papers in high impact journals (Nature Communications, Nucleic Acids Research, Genome Research, Briefings in Bioinformatics, Bioinformatic among many). She has received numerous prestigious honors, taught numerous courses in Qatar, the US, and Europe, and mentored numerous Master’s and PhD students. Dr. Halima has been Co-PI on several research grants in Qatar and abroad. She is a mentor for a $2 millions newly created center awarded by USDA grant agency to the obesity center in Texas Tech and serves as a reviewer for the NIH and NSF and is a board member of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Technology Foundation, Davos and an AdCom representative of IEEE EMBs in MENA.
Taghreed Elkhodary
Before moving to The Netherlands, Elkhodary was the New York Times correspondent in Gaza from 2001 to 2009, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, and a TV reporter for Al-Hayat-LBC. She covered the second Intifada, Israel‘s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian civil war in 2007, and the war on Gaza in 2008-2009. Elkhodary also trained journalists in Palestine and Sudan. She worked for eight years as a senior editor for Fanack.com, a chronicle on the Middle East and North Africa. Currently, she is giving media training.
Mouin Rabbani
Mouin Rabbani is a researcher, analyst, and commentator specialising in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He has previously served as Principal Political Affairs Officer with the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Head of Middle East with Crisis Management Initiative/Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, and Senior Middle East Analyst and Special Advisor on Israel-Palestine with the International Crisis Group. Rabbani is Co-Editor of Jadaliyya and Contributing Editor of Middle East Report. At Jadaliyya he edits the Quick Thoughts feature and is host of the Connections podcast. A graduate of Tufts University and Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Rabbani has published, presented and commented widely on Middle East issues, including for most major print, television and digital media.
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