Harvard conference went virtual
Head organizers of HPAIR 2021 Zeel Patel and Eric Lin took the pandemic-related postponement as an opportunity to make the event more accessible through technological channels.
The Harvard Project for Asian and internatiional Relations (HPAIR), usually held in the Ivy League campus, went virtual last 15 to 18 January after its summer conference was postponed last August 2020.
With the timely theme of “Embracing Change,” this year’s edition was attended by over 1,800 student-delegates across the world to lobby on democratizing information and upscaling networking resources for students.
Head organizers of HPAIR 2021 Zeel Patel and Eric Lin took the pandemic-related postponement as an opportunity to make the event more accessible through technological channels. They unleashed their computer science skills learned
These segments that commenced virtually allowed delegates to intimately get inspirations from these exemplary personalities in the comfort of their homes.
from Silicon Valley to manage the massive applications and organize virtual rooms for both mentors and participants.
Content of the conference will be available on HPAIR’s YouTube channel later this month.
Notable speakers in the conference included World Health Organization directorgeneral Tedros Adhanom, CEO of consulting firm McKinsey & Company Kevin Sneader and media executive Yang Lan.
Other 47 leaders coming from different disciplines were also present for executive seminars, fireside conversations and plenary sessions. These segments that commenced virtually allowed delegates to intimately get inspirations from these exemplary personalities in the comfort of their homes.
Lin told Harvard Gazette that the selection of speakers and mentors was tailored from their goal to make knowledge about technology accessible not only to well-off institutions but also to other areas.
This first-ever virtual HPAIR defied geographical boundaries while upscaling the level of discourse. Partial funds accumulated from it will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.