The Democratic Education Network (DEN) hosted their 8th annual conference on the 9th
of May this year, and students from Thailand, Vietnam, and Thailand came to present
their independent research. One student namely, presented their dissertation topic
about the Qatar resource problem. The topics varied in their content, with some panels
being about sustainable development, and others being about economic, social, and
political growth.
The conference came together well since all the students and staff were able to
communicate well beforehand, especially concerning the roles that everyone had to do.
One individual even made a presentation about how to deal with issues that may arise
from the day like not knowing what to do in a situation. This specific presentation
happened during the weekly DEN meetings that were occurring since the start of the
2024 academic year, where a majority of the cohort of DEN members went on the
Vietnam year 2 module. This trip helped to create a stronger, more effective team that
created a well-rounded conference.
During the conference, I was given the responsibility of chairing a portion of it, where I
introduced 2 speakers speaking about women’s rights. During my specific section, I
learnt about the feminist movement about the guerriela girls, which I had absolutely no
previous knowledge about beforehand. The presentation, in my opinion was very well
given and had a profound impact on my understanding of what it means to be a
feminist. Being a feminist does not mean that a person needs to be naked to be
displayed and be seen as a feminist icon. Out of all the presentations given on that day,
the ones I remember the most are the ones about child marriage within the Hmong
people in Vietnam and the Guerilla girls, not only because they were in my panel of
chairing but also because they stood out the most to me.
Concerning any doubts I had about the conference beforehand, I didn’t really have any
specific doubts but instead about if I would be able to do a good job chairing. This is
because I thought I would develop stage fright if there was a large group of people.
However, thankfully I did not develop stage fright and therefore my section of the panel
went well.
In total, I believe the whole event went really well, and there was even a few students
who came back after graduating to attend. Therefore, showing how DEN is inclusive
even to those who have left the academic bubble of the university of Westminster.
Although the food did take a bit of time coming to the participants, the Palestinian food
was really good, especially the wraps. The ending speech also helped to bring
everything to a good close, and hopefully create an even better environment for the next
annual DEN conference.
Afra Bhuiyan