ACADEMIC CONCEPT Willem Koelewijn - Franziska Maier - Titus Verster
The Academic Concept for Amsterdam2015 focuses on a collaborative effort of all session participants to produce innovative and well thought-through results. EYP sessions usually succeed at allowing participants to take a good look at one specific topic, whilst only granting a superficial insight into other issues discussed at the session. This often leads to debates in General Assembly that do not live up to the high standards set by delegates during Committee Work. Additionally, there is no mechanism that allows for the integration of suggestions presented in the General Assembly. Amsterdam2015 will try to facilitate the engagement of participants in several topics and allow them to make a meaningful contribution to resolutions other than their own. This will allow for the critical review of others’ products, a process of developing constructive ideas, improvements and alternatives during the session and consequently for truly well-considered and opinion-driven debates.
Delegate Preparation To reach the aforementioned, delegates will be assigned a committee topic as well as a topic cluster consisting of two or three additional topics. Tailored preparation materials will enable delegates to prepare thoroughly for their own topic, as well as to understand the basics of the other topics in their cluster. This could for instance be achieved by providing delegates with both an elaborate Topic Overview and a summarised version of the Overview for each of the topics. The workload will be distributed over a longer period of time to guarantee that all delegates have the opportunity to engage with the topics within their cluster to a sufficient extent. Delegates will thus arrive at the session well-prepared to also contribute to discussions on topics other than their own.
Interactive Committee Modules At least twice during the session, delegates will have the time to participate in the work of the committees in their topic cluster. The first small meeting will take place after the knowledge-sharing phase of Committee Work. Delegates shall visit the committee rooms of the committees in their cluster. This meeting will allow delegates to get an insight in the knowledge the proposing committees deem most relevant to their respective topics and the areas of conflict they have identified. Delegates from the cluster will also have the opportunity to contribute pieces of knowledge the proposing committee may have missed out on or deemed irrelevant. Amsterdam2015.eu
Another meeting will take place after the first phase of Committee Work in preparation for the first General Assembly. An exchange format will give delegates the chance to explain their resolution draft to delegates in their cluster and pre-discuss parts of the resolution. This will serve the delegates in writing well thought-through amendments and prepare them for the constructive debates the next day.
General Assembly I The results of the first two days of Committee Work will be discussed in the first General Assembly, which will be based on resolution drafts. The aim of this General Assembly is primarily to improve the resolutions by considering the advantages and disadvantages of the most controversial solutions and by giving constructive input to the proposing committee. During each debate, two amendments submitted by delegates from other committees on the previous day will be discussed. The Board will decide which amendments will be up for debate during General Assembly I. The amendments that are not selected for the General Assembly will be available to the relevant committee on the following day, during Revision Day. The discussion of each amendment will include a short statement by the delegate who put the amendment forward and a short response from the proposing committee, followed by an open debate on the amendment. After the discussion on the two the amendments, the floor will be opened for all committees to give their feedback on the produced draft resolution. To ensure the proposing committee takes as many ideas and considerations as possible from this debate, time to respond to points raised for the proposing committee will be limited. Chairpersons will serve as secretaries to the debate on their committee’s draft resolution.
Committee Work - Revision Day A Revision Day after the first General Assembly will give delegates the time to revise and perfect their resolutions. They will thoroughly evaluate their own resolutions. During this evaluation they will consider: 1. the contributions from the first General Assembly and 2. discussions they will have with experts from the field relevant to their topic. Amsterdam2015.eu
General Assembly II The second General Assembly will follow a classic GA procedure and shall be focused entirely on debate, rather than being a platform for asking questions. Its aim is for delegates to share opinions and exchange arguments on which they can base their vote at the end of the debate.
Other Ideas Alternative Resolution Formats: depending on the committee topics, we will discuss whether an alternative format for the resolutions would be more effective. We would have to consider whether having different formats depending on the nature of the topic is feasible. Interactive Academic Preparation: in order to encourage delegates to truly engage with all topics in their cluster, we will have to think about engaging them in interactive activities during their individual academic preparation. This could be achieved by having delegates submit small statements on all topics within their cluster in addition to the expected preparation for their own topic. The topics could also be introduced online, so as to hopefully engage delegates in a debate on the topics prior to the session. There is ample room here for the Media Team to become active as well. Topic Cluster Groups: delegates in a cluster could form buddy groups consisting of one representative per topic. These buddy groups could hold short meetings and inform each other about the progress of their committee, ask for advice and get feedback on controversial ideas.
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