The DEN conference of the 9th of May 2025 was a truly invaluable extracurricular experience for me and my higher education. Full of ambitious young, educated voices from around the world, this conference consisted of numerous presentations by students who had written articles for DEN’s book, ‘Just futures: sustainability, inclusivity and education’, and other academic interests and experiences. I was very lucky and thankful to have my own name featured in the book this year as an editor and having seen the kind of work students have now been able to have published, I am inspired and motivated to have an article by myself in next years book. The book also contained an arts section featuring paintings and poetry by some of the students. As a writer and poet, I too am keen to have my work published in the DEN book for next year alongside an academic article to show my diverse skillset of academic and creative writing to bolster my progression in both areas.
My roles for this conference were simple, contribute to a group presentation and take notes on select speakers. The group presentation I was a part of was about the, at the time, upcoming trip to the UN branch in New York, an amazing experience which really embodied the principles of DEN. Having a background doing public speaking I believed I would be fine with the presentation but nonetheless I am human and there were words I slipped up on and moments where I faltered slightly in my presenting. The experience reminded me of the crucial tool that is public speaking, being one that needs regular tempering, maintenance and sharpening, and that is what I got out of presenting to such a large crowd.
The note taking aspect of my role was more challenging than expected. I had taken notes at multiple DEN meetings before, and I found it fairly easy to follow what people were saying and keep up with notes. The note taking at the conference didn’t prove so straightforward. Students spoke faster than I could write, presentation slides sometimes didn’t have key cues for me to write down, and some of the terms were new to me and it was difficult, but I adapted and believe I did a fair job at taking notes on a couple of panels.
As a first year this experience at the conference has me very much looking forward to the one next year. I hope to prove my development by then and take a much larger role within DEN and its conference hoping to chair, present and potentially perform spoken word next year. I was further inspired by hearing that a former member of DEN was able to get a job thanks to her work with DEN, so I look forward to further work with DEN and I hope it will take me more places than New York and be a stepping stone to a career.
Edward Dean