The 9th Virtual Discussion: “The Role of Mass Media in Shaping Public Perception of Humanitarian Crises and Conflicts”

November 30, 2023

On November 25, 2023, students from American Universities of Nigeria, Myanmar, and Central Asia met each other via Zoom to discuss The Role of Mass Media in Shaping Public Perception of Humanitarian Crises and Conflicts. The 9th Virtual Inter-University Discussion was conducted within the framework of the Civic Engagement Project called Crossing Borders Through Social Media and Dialogue initiated by Ekaterina Galimova (GenEd,  FYS, and SYS programs AUCA) and Emilienne Akpan (AUN) in 2019. 

The primary objective of this international online event was to develop students' leadership, critical thinking, and communication skills. There were more than 30 participants. Since the virtual discussion is a completely student-centered event, it was led by Barfiya Bozmamadova (ES-123) and Takhmina Dadieva (LAS-SE-123) who were shy at the beginning but were eventually able to overcome the barrier and continued to lead the discussion. 

Although the topic of the General Discussion was rather hard for the freshmen, they did manage to express their opinions on it, provide evidence from the previously shared sources, give comments, and ask reasonable questions. The students demonstrated a mature awareness of contemporary issues and identified their positions in oral and written forms.  

Besides the General Discussion, which was the first part of the virtual discussion, there were eight BreakoutRoom Discussions where students had a chance to talk about war(s), happiness, AI and its influence on Humanity, Science and its Harm to humanity, the UN and its role in international politics, etc. It is worth mentioning that all the topics were offered by students of all the three universities.

As follow-up activities, students were encouraged to use the data they got in their essays, research papers/projects, or video projects. 

Professor Ekaterina Galimova expresses her special thanks to the most active participants: Jasmin Emilbek (PSY-123), Safina Imatshoeva (ECO-123), Adina Turdubaeva (BA-123), Barfiya Bozmamadova (ES-123), Samira Imomdodova (IBL-123), Anushervon Nurmamadov (IBL-123), Farzin Amonov (MATH-123), Sultan Kelsinbekov (SFW-123), Sultan Baisbekov (MATH-123), Timuchin Akanov (SFW-123), and Ofarid Azimshoev (ICP-123).

In their turn, students expressed their gratitude to the professors for facilitation of the online event and the opportunity to meet their peers from various countries. They expressed their keen interest in participating in future discussions as well. 

If you missed the chance to join this time, you are warmly invited to participate in the next session that will be held in the spring semester of 2024!

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