Mohamad Mehdi Merbah Participates in an International Youth Conference and Widens His Horizons.

At the cutting edge of evolution where globalization has made the world a small village leaving a small room for culture and traditions comes the constant dilemma of transformation versus cultural conservation ; a topic that has been chosen by The “International Student Week in Ilmenau” (ISWI), a conference that took place on from 17 to 26 of May 2019 at the campus of Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany.

The conference drew the attention of Mehdi Merbah, an LAU MEPI TL sophomore student from Algeria who decided to take part of it and gain different perspectives and critical view of both sides: traditions and transitions.

Gathering around 400 participants from more than 70 difference countries, the conference offered the opportunity to dive into specific areas of interest discussing several topics to name a few : gender equity, equal rights, technology, climate change etc.

Majoring in Bio-informatics, Merbah chose to delve into the topic of artificial intelligence. Together with the group’s members, Merbah participated in workshops, attended panel discussions and key lecture notes where AI ethical framework from unemployment to safety and uncontrollable increased automation were examined and discussed in an open-ended dialogue. The conference ended with food and heritage festival and students got the chance to discover a myriad of cultures from across the globe.

Bringing young people from all over the world together to serve as a platform for exchange and getting to know each other helped Merbah widen his horizon further and enabled him to see things from a bigger perspective and recognize the interdependence of traditions, changes, and choices.