2022 Leadership Week: Emerge, Engage, Empower
Leadership Week aims to empower and inspire young people at the forefront of generating ideas, setting the agenda, and enacting change.
Expectations for rapid change are increasing. As culture creators, young people want to know how our communities, companies, NGOs, and governing bodies are addressing environmental and social issues. As demand for social responsibility and ethical leadership increases, so too does the need for fresh new ideas.
The week showcases a small slice of the transformative thinking occurring at the University and beyond, as well as the kinds of opportunities the University’s two leadership programmes (the Wellington International Leadership Programme (WILP) and the Wellington Plus Programme) offer to students, and the work of the Brian Picot Chair of Ethical Leadership - Aritahi.
This year’s programme focuses on a range of topics including: the challenges of ethical leadership in the 21st century; the role of intercultural communication skills in fostering global citizenship; the ways the University as an institution and a learning community is building a more sustainable future.
We’ve curated a week of events that aims to stimulate challenging and creative ideas that will change our world for the better.
All students are welcome, please register for the workshops via the links provided below.
Local To Global: From the campus to the world for a sustainable future
Andrew Wilks (Director, Sustainability | Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington)
Come on a guided walking tour (approx. 50 mins) of the Kelburn campus to see behind the scenes of some of the key sustainability initiatives underway at the University. See and hear how the University is trying to demonstrate good environmental practice through our operations.
Once back in the classroom, you will participate in a workshop to explore how the University can expand its impact beyond operational initiatives into the core business of teaching, research and engagement. It will be a very interactive session, during which you will be invited to come up with (in groups) your own critique of the University’s plans, ideas for improvements and dig into the challenge of sustainable internationalisation.
Wednesday 13 July 3:10 – 5 PM
Alan McDiarmid Building (AM 104)
VUW students can register for the seminar here
The Social and Personal Benefits of Volunteering
Johann Go (Rhodes Scholar & lecturer | University of Oxford)
People who volunteer tend to do so for social and personal reasons. There is a motivation to help out in the community coupled with a desire to form meaningful connections with fellow volunteers. Increasingly, there is also a desire to show social impact in one’s CV for scholarship, employment and other opportunities. Johann will present on the dual social and personal benefits of volunteering. He will draw on stories from his own experiences to show how volunteers can create the most social impact while taking advantage of the opportunities from volunteering to enhance their chances of success in scholarship applications and in the job market.
Johann will also provide some commentary on the ethical and political aspects of volunteering that all volunteers should be attuned to. These reflections include how to volunteer to promote rather than undermine social justice, how ‘charity’ ought to fit within a welfare state, and how to navigate the line between meaningful volunteering and exploitation.
Thursday 14 July 6 – 7 PM
Online / ZOOM (registration via CareerHub event)
VUW students can register for the seminar here
Film and Pizza night
This year for Leadership Week we're inviting all students to a Film and Pizza night at the Hunter Lounge!
We will show the movie Vai, made by nine female Pacific filmmakers, and filmed in seven different Pacific countries: Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Kuki Airani (Cook Islands), Samoa, Niue and Aotearoa (New Zealand). It is about the journey of Vai, played by a different indigenous actress in each of the Pacific countries. In each of these Pacific nations ‘vai’ means water. (See the trailer via: https://www.nzfilm.co.nz/films/vai.)
This will be a relaxed night hosted by our WPP/WILP student ambassadors filled with socializing, free food, a movie and prizes. Open to all VUW students so be sure to bring a friend!
Mon 18 Jul 2022, 4 pm – 7 pm
Hunter Lounge, Student Union Building
For catering purposes please book in here https://careerhub.vuw.ac.nz/students/events/Detail/2727846/leadership-week-film-and-pizza.
Intercultural Communication
Nuzha Saleem (Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research | Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington)
What is culture? How do you define it? You will gain insight into the culture of others, as well as an understanding of the basic principles of effective interpersonal and intercultural communication in a multicultural context and how to tackle it.
Students will be encouraged to think about the concept of 'culture' and engage in discussion and activities that facilitate understanding of intercultural communication in multicultural contexts.
Tuesday 19 July 3:10 – 5 PM
Murphy Building (MYLT101)
VUW students can register for the seminar here
Navigating Ethical Leadership Challenges in the 21st Century
Professor Karin Lasthuizen (Brian Picot Chair of Ethical Leadership | Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington)
Modern technology brings us safer self-driving cars, but what ethical decisions are hidden in the software? We practice on an online platform with the moral machine and discuss our choices in light of ethical theory.
Another real-world example is the unprecedented ethical challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Public leaders have had to make tough choices to save lives - for example, whom should we prioritise in hospital care when resources are limited? What is the right thing to do when it comes to these wicked dilemmas and how do we know?
Ethics is such an important dimension in everything we do and decide, and this workshop is a first step in gaining the knowledge and skills to become an ethical leader.
Wednesday 20 July 4:10 – 6 PM
Kirk Building (KK202)