New York Irish Center hosts “Ireland Today 2022 - The Inaugural America-Ireland Youth Conference” taking place Friday to Sun May 20, 21 and 22. Bringing together policy makers, educators and students from Ireland and the US, the live-stream video conference features internationally recognized experts on a number of urgent global topics, including the panel moderators Nisha Varia of Human Rights Watch (May 20), the UN and UNICEF’s Sarah Crowe (May 21), and Irish Green Party politician and Dublin City Council Member Claire Byrne (May 22).
Students from many university programs on both sides of the Atlantic are taking part and serving as panelists. Each day will feature a panel discussion moderated by distinguished leaders and educators followed by a question and answer session. The conference’s media sponsor is www.irishcentral.com which will live-stream key portions of the conference and provide coverage, insight and opinion about the conference.
MEDIA PARTNER
IrishCentral.com
SPONSORS
Northern Ireland Bureau
Gender-Based Violence: A Road to Understanding (Friday, May 20th, 1-4PM EST)
Shifting Landscapes: The Value of Peace (Saturday, 21st, 1-2:30PM EST)
Tackling Climate Change Together (Sunday, May 22nd, 1-2:30PM EST)
MODERATOR BIOS
Moderator - Nisha Varia (she/her)
Nisha Varia is the advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's women's rights division. As a researcher in the women's rights division between 2003 and 2014, she conducted investigations, published reports, and carried out advocacy campaigns on migrant domestic workers’ rights across Asia and the Middle East. Her advocacy contributed to the adoption of the groundbreaking 2011 International Labour Organization's Domestic Workers Convention. Varia's other work has included developing training materials for interviewing survivors of sexual violence and research on human rights impacts of coal mining in Mozambique, women’s political participation in Afghanistan, and abuses against refugee women in Nepal.
Moderator - Sarah Crowe (she/her)
Sarah Crowe is a Moderator, Writer, Strategist, and Senior Advisor/Consultant for UN Communications. In 2022 she helped craft a major UNESCO Global Report on the impact of Covid on the cultural sector. She previously lead on Convening at the UNICEF Office of Research Innocenti in Florence where she moderated and organized the Leading Minds conferences with high-level panelists to interview children and young people on key issues of our time: mental health together with WHO in 2019, COVID-related content in 2020 and 2021 such as vaccine doses, distribution, and the great divide, online learning, climate change, and a special focus on Africa. At Innocenti in Florence, she managed the communication team, launched the Report Card into Child Wellbeing, and advised the team of researchers. She helped rebrand Innocenti and produced a 10-part podcast on the Future of Childhood with global experts. Crowe previously worked as UNICEF’s Chief of Crisis Communications and the Spokesperson for UNICEF’s Executive Director, Anthony Lake, from 2015 to 2018 and as the Regional Chief of Communications in Delhi from 2008 to 2011. Before joining the UN, Crowe worked as an international journalist and has covered major global news and current affairs events such as the end of apartheid, the Mandela era, civil wars in DR Congo, Angola, and Somalia.
Moderator - Claire Byrne (she/her)
Claire Byrne is a politician, climate campaigner, environmental education specialist and sustainability consultant for the events industry. She is a Green Party Councillor in Dublin for the South-East Inner City. First elected in 2014, Claire’s work is dedicated to influencing public policy in the areas of climate action, planning, waste, equality, arts, culture and active transport, aiming to create a climate resilient Dublin while improving the quality of life for its citizens. She is Chair of the Dublin City Climate Action Plan Committee, an active member of the Arts and Culture SPC along with several other boards and committees.
Claire is also parliamentary assistant to Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Environment, Climate Action, Communications and Transport was the Green Party candidate for the Dublin Bay South By Election 2021. She has been an active member of the Green Party for almost 20 years, was part of the Programme for Government negotiation team for Arts and Culture in 2020 and has worked with the Party through two terms in Government.
Claire is passionate about exploring the interface between creativity, politics and climate as a way to communicate both the challenges and solutions of the climate crisis and to inspire positive, meaningful behaviour change through effective public policy.