Fundamental questions about the future, such as what humanity should prepare for in the course of this century, which technologies will develop most quickly, and which would be shelved, will there be global conflicts due to lack of resources, have humans passed the point of no return in global climate change, and are environmental disasters of unprecedented proportions awaiting us. among other topics, will be discussed at the NEXT 75 Youth Conference scheduled to be held at Sochi, Russia, on December 16 as part of the closing phase of events to mark the 75th anniversary of the Russian nuclear industry.
According to an announcement by the Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, the participants at the conference, to be held in a mixed offline and online format, will be able to ask the world’s leading scientists and public figures all these and many other questions.
“The agenda of the conference will be devoted to closely related problems like resource scarcity, population growth, new diseases and environmental issues. Thanks to the use of multimedia technologies, communication on serious topics will be very exciting with many visual surprises awaiting the audience,” a Rosatom statement said. “The main goal of the conference is to establish a dialogue about the future of our planet between famous scientists and the most proactive members of the younger generation”, it added.
Scientists from around the world, such as the Nobel Peace Prize winner Rodney John Allam and Carl Safina, ecology Professor at the Rutgers University (US), are expected to address the conference.
Oyewale Tomori, WHO virologist and expert in the implementation of innovative solutions in the fight against pandemics, will speak about possible diseases of the future. Miguel Brandao, Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Ecology and Life Cycle Assessment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Thomas Blees, President of the Science Council for Global Initiatives, will speak at the Resource Scarcity panel. Tejbir Singh Rana, Professor at the University of Delhi will talk about the problem of overpopulation, which is expected to be one of the most acute issues in the future.
The conference is also expected to be attended by celebrities and opinion leaders, such as Russian actor and director and Danila Kozlovsky, and United Nations Messenger of Peace Jane Morris Goodall. Special guests of the conference are Elena Shmeleva, head of the “Talent and Success” foundation and the Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev.
According to Rosatom, the conference will be held at the 900-seater Atom Hall in the Sirius Park of Science and Art in Sochi in full compliance with sanitary and epidemiological safety measures required to protect participants from coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. “Two hundred gifted Russian students will attend the event at the Atom Hall, and another 400 young people from all over the world will be invited to join the conference online with the opportunity to ask questions and participate in discussions”, the statement said.
Webcast of the three-hour conference will begin on December 16 at 15.00 hours local time on http://next75.com/ as well as on the Rosatom social networks, the statement added.
