Youth Conference 2023

We were delighted to host our first every Youth Conference on Friday 21 April - this year's focus was on Climate and Sustainability. 

Part of our Haberdashers' Advantage programme, this annual conference will provide a key platform for pupil voice across the Trust. Working in partnership with our Youth Advisory Board means we can use this event to inspire conversations and drive actions on the issues and interests that matter to our children and young people.  

Read the news post about the event here

Watch the conference highlights

2023: Climate and Sustainability

Coinciding with World Earth Day in April, our first Youth Conference centred around the topics of Climate and Sustainability and will help form the foundations for a sustainability strategy for our Trust. Find out more about the speakers and workshop leads from this year's conference below. 

MAIN KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dominique Palmer
Climate Justice Activist, Student, Speaker

Dominique is a Youth Climate Justice Activist, global speaker, storyteller, writer and who believes in uniting people for climate action and using creative means to unite people.

Named in Forbes 2020 Leading UK Environmentalists list. Featured in DAZED, the Guardian Weekend, Refinery29, Bustle, VICE, The Big Issue, Huffington Post, NATGEO and Stylist, and appearances in media such as Sky News, the BBC, and the New York Times for her work.

She is an organiser in, Fridays for Future, a global youth movement for climate justice, and has been involved in international campaigns, global climate strike coordination, and bringing 350,000 people in the U.K to protest for climate action in September 2019. She is a lead coordinator in Climate Live, global youth-led concerts harnessing the power of music to engage, educate and empower. She is a young leader in UN Women’s Feminist Action Coalition for Climate Justice with Fridays for Future MAPA, and contributor in the co-development of the Global Youth Recommendations: Youth, Gender, and Climate Change.

Palmer pushes for equitable climate action, and pressures leaders to act. She focuses on engagement and communicating Climate Justice, cross collaboration, and is also passionate about sustainable fashion, and veganism.

She was honoured as a 'Young Leader' at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in 2023, where she was introduced as a changemaker by Annie Lennox. She has spoken at events such as COP26, New York Times Hub hosted by Emma Watson alongside Malala, Greta, Tori, Daphne, Vanessa Nakate, and Mya Rose Craig, UN Women CWS66 Youth Forum , the Financial Times FT Schools live sessions , COP25 with the Indigenous Pavillion, and TEDxCountdown with Climate Reality.

In using music, to unite people, Palmer has hosted a live panel for ‘Overheated’ with Billie Eilish and Support and Feed at the O2, has presented her work with Climate Live at the Barbican, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and has recorded a song for earth day with Swedish grammi winning artist Titiyo.

SECOND KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND WORKSHOP LEADER: Dr Tom Young
Green and Blue Infrastructure Expert and Green Roof Consultant

An experienced green and blue infrastructure expert, Dr Young is a Green Blue Infrastructure Associate, 2022 Nuffield Scholar and Green Roof Consultant.

He has two decades of experience in sustainable design and development in urban and rural settings.

Tom taught students about sustainable urban planning with a focus on green roofs. The students were given an opportunity to design green roofs and evaluate the challenges behind adding a green roof to every building.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Lara Vadamczyk 
Greenpeace 

Greenpeace is a movement of people who are passionate about defending the natural world from destruction. Our vision is a greener, healthier and more peaceful planet, one that can sustain life for generations to come. Lara taught our students some of the global challenges we face and how we can tackle some of those challenges on a local scale.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Theresa Sebastian 
Re Earth Initiative

Our Mission: To make the climate movement accessible to all 

While youth are becoming more aware about social and environmental issues, there still remains a gap in driving real, concrete change. We want to break the echo chamber and bring climate action to the masses by hosting informational webinars and writing toolkits. 

Re earth initiative held a fully interactive workshop encouraging the students to get involved in making a change and forming their pledges to address climate change. 

WORKSHOP LEADER: Dr Konstantinos Tsiolis
Pollinating London Together

PLT was created with a specific mission: to create spaces in central London where all the natural pollinators can thrive, and their habitats can be enjoyed with everyone, starting in the City of London. The longer-term vision is to create a template for change and action through leadership that can be implemented in urban environments across the UK.

Dr Tsiolis brought pollinating creatures as specimens for the students to study with microscopes and encourage creative solutions to rewilding the spaces they have access to in school and at home.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Ellen Miles
Nature is a Human Right 

Nature is a Human Right are raising awareness of how beneficial green space is to our health and happiness and the threats of nature deprivation, through campaigning, partnerships and a collective manifesto.

As well working towards our ultimate goal with a petition to the United Nations, we've assisted more immediate, tangible change through working with local authorities and supporting grassroots action. Ellen taught students how to create a seed bomb and the importance of green space.