����vlog����

Founding a new conference at Harvard Kennedy School has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my time here.

Over six months of planning in 2024, coordinating with 12 , and navigating the intricacies of the complicated logistics of student symposiums and conferences, I gained insights into leadership, community-building, and the importance of amplifying underrepresented regions in policy discourse at the Kennedy School and Harvard more broadly.

Student-organized conferences are a key part of the Kennedy School academic experience and community life, and I’d highly encourage anyone who wants to bring more discourse to a region or topic area to consider founding a new conference at the Kennedy School. It is just one way to give back to this school, which has given us so much in our time here. 

Growing up in Australia, Asia-Pacific policy issues are always front-of-mind and direct much of Australian foreign policy: it’s a small 'neighborhood' and countries in the Asia Pacific—from China to India to Indonesia to Australia—are highly interconnected and interdependent. I studied international relations in university with a major in Asia-Pacific studies and spent time studying at the National University of Singapore’s .

When I arrived at the Kennedy School, I was eager to join the Asia Pacific Conference and, when I found that there was not one, I decided to create a forum to bring greater awareness of the complex policy issues emerging from the region.

The Asia Pacific Conference grew from a vision to create a space for discussing emerging policy issues from one of the world’s most dynamic regions—a region that is sometimes overlooked at the Kennedy School amongst other geographically closer regions.

The Asia-Pacific region holds growing geopolitical importance, influencing global trade, innovation, climate policy, and security. Yet, despite its prominence on the world stage, it has not always received proportional attention in policy discussions at the Kennedy School. This symposium sought to address that gap while serving as a flagship event for the many Asia-Pacific student caucuses and the Asia-Pacific community at the Kennedy School. 

Lessons learned

One of the first and most critical lessons I learned in founding a new conference was the importance of starting early.

Approaching and bringing together 12 Asia-Pacific student caucuses at the Kennedy School—Japan, India, Southeast Asia (SEA), Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Taiwan, Philippines, South Asia, and Greater China caucuses—took several weeks. The scale of the event—forming the organizing committee, organizing funding arrangements, securing high-profile speakers, and coordinating with ����vlog���� administration—required lots of planning by the organizing committee. From booking venues to aligning schedules, early preparation was essential to avoid bottlenecks later in the process of founding a conference.

Involving the ����vlog���� administration early on was another key takeaway.

Founding a symposium is the first step to founding a permanent conference at the Kennedy School, and there are specific policies and constraints: understanding these early helped us avoid unnecessary delays. This was the first regional conference to be founded at the Kennedy School in 10 years, so the administration sometimes was learning the rules alongside us! For example, symposiums have different guidelines for speaker honoraria, marketing, and use of institutional resources compared to conferences. In this, Jane Finn-Foley and Ellen Pigott from the Office of Student Services were invaluable and greatly supportive of our initiative, and we are indebted to their guidance. Partnering closely with administrators not only clarified these distinctions but also enabled us to leverage ����vlog���� resources effectively, from event promotion to logistics support.

Another major learning was recognizing that building community is as important as the event itself. The Asia Pacific Symposium wasn’t just an event; it was a statement. It demonstrated that ����vlog���� students care deeply about the Asia-Pacific region and are committed to advancing thoughtful policy analysis on its emerging issues.

Importantly, the symposium also provided a platform for students from the Asia-Pacific region to share their experiences and insights. It fostered a sense of belonging and showcased the immense talent and perspective these students bring to ����vlog����. While the speaker panels and discussions were undoubtedly the highlights, the symposium’s success ultimately hinged on its ability to bring people together. Creating opportunities for informal networking and community building during the symposium and the cocktail networking session post-symposium were as crucial as the policy conversations. We were delighted by the positive response from Asia-Pacific students in the broader Cambridge community at MIT and Harvard. 

Gratitude and looking ahead

Last year’s symposium would not have been possible without the dedication of the student organizers and unwavering support of the ����vlog���� administration.

I would like to specifically thank the members of the organizing committee: Franklin Chen MPP 2025, Itsuki Nishizawa MPP 2025, Esther Tamara MPP 2025, Sinlu Tan MPP 2025, Lance Garcia MPP 2025, Krishna Kenche MPP 2024, Yeti Khim MPA 2024, Nuri Lee MPA 2026, Ken Matsumura MPP 2024, and Sam Yu MPP 2024. To everyone who contributed or attended the Asia Pacific Symposium on the day—thank you for helping turn it into a reality.

Bringing together a new student conference and community at Harvard Kennedy School has been by far one of the most rewarding parts of my time at the Kennedy School, and I would highly encourage others to consider it if they have a policy area of interest. It has exposed me to students, faculty members, and ideas that I would not have encountered otherwise and greatly enriched my experience here. As we look to the future, we hope this becomes an enduring tradition at ����vlog����, a space where the region’s challenges and opportunities can be examined with the rigor, creativity, and collaboration that ����vlog���� embodies.

We are now bringing the Asia Pacific Symposium back to the Kennedy School on Saturday, March 8, 2025 even bigger and better with the inaugural at Harvard Kennedy School. Join us!