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東京大学公共政策大学院 | GraSPP / Graduate School of Public Policy | The university of Tokyo

GPPN Conference 2022 report by Timothy Goo, Risa Shimono and Yong Beng Tan April 20, 2022

Although it was held online for the participants’ safety, contrary to the original plan scheduled to take place at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany, we enjoyed the GPPN 2022 conference very much. It was an exciting opportunity for us to hone and apply our policymaking knowledge and skills in a policy challenge our team selected. In addition, we heard and appreciated 28 other policy challenges and novel solutions, and networked with our counterparts from the other prestigious policy schools during the conference. The value of participating in the conference was evident from the diversity of the students and their projects, which we benefited from as we participated in the group activity organized by Hertie School prior to day 2 of the conference.

Within our team, each of us brought our unique perspectives and experiences to devise a policy solution to the pressing North Korean escapees issue in South Korean society. All members were in different parts of the globe, but each member worked together across time zones, having meetings and researching to write a 2,000-word draft and a 7,000-word draft.
Our team valued the feedback and input from several GraSPP professors as it further strengthened our proposal and thinking. Before the conference in March, we had chances to receive support from the professors during the preparation phase, including the selection meeting and rehearsals. We had a 3-minute presentation in Round 1 and a 5-minute presentation in Round 2, and we were able to calmly get through the presentations and Q&A on the day of the conference, thanks to the good preparation.

We appreciated the well-organized high quality conference, and the cherry on the cake was the individual UberEats/Grabfood vouchers by Hertie School during the conference. Despite the tight schedule of the conference with the time difference, there was time allocated for networking and enjoying the Berlin culture virtually. We strongly encourage everyone to find a passion project or idea and participate in the next GPPN conference.