TRT World Forum’s special event for youths, “NEXT by TRT World Forum”, was held at Zorlu PSM with the participation of experts from national and international arenas, as well as thousands of young individuals. Renowned experts shared their knowledge on various important topics ranging from reshaping education to building inclusive content using technology, from the future of travel to sustainability in business.
The second “NEXT by TRT World Forum” was held this year in Istanbul. TRT executives, including Deputy Director General of TRT, Muhammed Ziyad Varol, young journalists, members of civil society organizations, academics and young people attended the event at Zorlu PSM.
World famous former footballer Frederic Kanoute participated in the “Next by TRT World Forum”.
The forum included panels such as “Reinventing Education: Breaking Barriers, Empowering Minds”, “Access 2.0: Building an Inclusive Future through Technology and Design”, “Meaningful Engagement: Reducing the Impact of Disasters Together” and “Climate Anxiety: The Youth Wants a Different Planet” with the participation of well-known figures from Turkey and around the world.
Frederic Kanoute, a renowned footballer who is committed to developing the next generation of young football players from Africa, spoke on the panel titled “The Inner Story: Diving into the Life of Athletes”. In his speech, he mentioned, “Football is a popular sport and a summary of life. Some of the things we see in football continue in our daily lives. For example, our brothers and sisters experience racism. As a society, we have to fight against it.”
The panel, “Meaningful Engagement: Reducing the Impact of Disasters Together” which was closely followed by all participants, assessed the skills, knowledge and resources young people need to be actors in improving resilience to disasters. Speaking at the panel, Mehmet Gulluoglu, the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Tanzania, said, “Turkey is not only a country that provides humanitarian aid in times of disaster, but also always lends a helping hand. We support many countries. If we use the energy of youth, it will benefit many countries. We need active development, not passive projects. Only then can we change the world.”
Chef and entrepreneur CZN Burak Ozdemir, who also spoke on the same panel, pointed to their collaboration with NGOs, saying, “People from all over the world come to our restaurant, but there are many people who cannot enjoy these meals. That was a moral concern for us. Therefore, we wanted to work with NGOs to deliver everything on our menu to children who do not have access to food.”
The panel “The New Frontier: How AI is Revolutionizing Media Content” discussed the transformation that the rapid development of artificial intelligence is bringing to the media industry and focused on how it is reshaping the traditional roles of journalists and content creators. Kassy Cho, founder of a media organization called Almost, who spoke on the panel, said, “We will always need humans to analyze the world and tell stories. We can be more effective with artificial intelligence, but human supervision is still needed.”
Numerous workshops were held during the event.
In addition to the panel discussions on the main stage, several workshops were held in the foyer on e-commerce, sustainable art, content creation, game design and VR illustration. Participants, including thousands of young people, had the opportunity to collaborate with each other and with various national and international organizations during the event.
