Seven PD students are heading to Oxford, England and then Wales for the Round Square International Conference next week.

With 1,500 delegates, it is the largest conference ever for Round Square, an internationally diverse network of 200 like-minded schools in 50 countries on six continents. 

For preparation, the PD students engaged in an identity exercise, as well as a U.K. cultural research and share session, plus they brainstormed ways to bring Round Square back to PD. During their second orientation meeting, the group learned the breaking news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth. 

Follow the trip, which begins Sept. 19, at @pdsglobal. For more about global education at PD, click here.

About the Conference
The theme for the Round Square International Conference 2022 is Take Less: Be More. The Conference will be hosted in the UK, with the first part of the conference happening all together in the fabulous and historic surroundings of Oxford University.

The RSIC2022 will begin with delegates spending three days at University of Oxford, staying in Balliol College, attending keynotes at the Oxford New Theatre, taking part in baraza breakouts, dining at the Colleges, and enjoying some fun activities including a literary adventure race, and creative and theatrical and dance opportunities in locations around the City of Oxford.

During the second half of the week the PD group will be travelling to Wales for an Adventure weekend with Round Square’s regular RSIS Project Partners, Flooglebinder. "On the beautiful Pembrokeshire coastline, this conference experience will give an immersive insight into the global issues being tackled by conservation and sustainability projects in Wales. Evenings will be spent around the campfire, with toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate aplenty."

A long-standing Round Square Service Project Partner, Flooglebinder was the UK’s first travel company to become a Certified B Corporation® in 2016, achieved the Carbon Neutral International Standard and is a participant in the UN Climate Neutral Now Initiative.

Speaker information:

Ben Fogle
Award-winning Broadcaster and adventurer
Ben Fogle has written nine Sunday Times Bestselling books and is the United Nations Patron of the Wilderness.

A former Reservist in the Royal Navy, Ben first rose to fame on the BBC’s Castaway, in which he was marooned on an island in the Outer Hebrides for a year. Since then Ben has climbed Mount Everest, rowed across the Atlantic, raced across Antarctica to the South Pole and crossed the deserts of the Empty Quarter in the Middle East. He has run the Marathon Des Sables, swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco and is also a keen sailor, marathon runner, boxer and cyclist.

Ben has made documentaries on Prince William in Africa, disease in Ethiopia, Captain Scott in Antarctica and Crocodiles in Botswana. He has presented numerous programmes for the BBC, ITV, C5 and Discovery including the hit series New Lives in the Wild.

Ben is a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and is ambassador to WWF, Tusk and Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. He is also Patron of The Red Cross and United Nations.

Sir Dieter Helm
Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford
Sir Dieter Helm is also a Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford.

From 2012 to 2020, he was Independent Chair of the Natural Capital Committee, providing advice to the British government on the sustainable use of natural capital.  In the 2021 New Year Honours List, Dieter was awarded a knighthood for services to the environment, energy, and utilities policy.

He has written many books, most recently Net Zero (2021), in which he addresses the action we all need to take to tackle the climate emergency. He is currently writing a new book on The Sustainable Economy.

His other books include: Green & Prosperous Land (2019), Burn Out: The Endgame for Fossil Fuels (2017), The Carbon Crunch: Revised and Updated (2015) and Natural Capital: Valuing the Planet (2016).

Emily Penn
Ocean Advocate & Skipper, founder of eXXpedition

Emily Penn organized the largest ever community-led waste cleanup from a tiny Tongan island, has trawled for micro plastics on a voyage through the Arctic Northwest Passage, rounded the planet on the record-breaking biofueled boat Earthrace, and worked on a sailing cargo ship trading western supplies for coconuts.

In 2014 Emily founded eXXpedition, a non-profit organization that runs pioneering all-female sailing research expeditions at sea and virtual voyages on land to investigate the causes of and solutions to ocean plastic pollution.

Emily was honored with the Fitzroy Award at the 2016 Ocean Awards and is also the youngest and only female recipient of both the Yachtmaster of the Year, awarded by HRH Princess Royal, and the Seamaster of the Year award. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical society and in 2017 was elected as a member of the Cordon Rouge Club. In 2021 she was awarded a BEM in the Queen's New Years Honours List.

Alumni Panel:
Elliot Berry
Founder and Director, The Noah Initiative
A former pupil of Windermere School, Elliot Berry is founder and director of Kenya-based charity The Noah Initiative, which provides disadvantaged young men and single mother's in Kenya with positive mentors. The Noah Initiative currently supports more than 60 boys, rescued from human traffickers or a life on the streets, and helps them to thrive in school. Its mentorship model also extends to the boys’ guardians, and more than 40 vulnerable families have been supported in setting up businesses, and achieving financial independence, with the aim of providing a sustainable system putting the family in control of its own future. Elliot is also well known in Kenya and East Africa as a comedian under the alias ‘The Reverend Dad’.

Sébastien F.W. Brack
Senior Advisor, Kofi Annan Foundation and European Institute of Peace
A former pupil of UWCSEA, Sébastien Brack is a Senior Advisor to the Kofi Annan Foundation and the European Institute of Peace, and a contributing writer to the European Council on Foreign Relations. A graduate of Oxford University and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Sébastien served as a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in eight countries in crisis or at war in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Returning to Europe in 2011, he ran an election campaign in France before joining Kofi Annan's team in Geneva as his political advisor. His main areas of work are conflict prevention and resolution, and electoral crisis management.

Stephanie Williams
2019 Team GB Wakeboarding World Champion and Creative Director, White Triangle Agency
A former pupil of Box Hill School, Stephanie Williams (née Caller) was five-times British Wakeboarding National Champion between 2008 and 2018, and two-times Masters World Champion in 2016 and 2019. Having achieved a first class honors degree, she established a design agency in Cheltenham, UK and later moved to live in the French Alps. From there, she and her husband balance life as new-parents to a seven-month-old baby with running White Triangle Agency, a creative agency that works with a global network on graphics, film, and motion design projects for brands such as Vodafone, Red Bull, CREA Mont-Blanc, Animal and Pinkberry.

Josceline Cluff
Safeguarding Manager at Better Cotton and Trustee at Rainforest Foundation UK
A former pupil of Cobham Hall School, Josceline Cluff is Safeguarding Manager for the Better Cotton Initiative, a non-profit, multistakeholder governance group that promotes better standards in cotton farming and practices across 21 countries. She also serves as a Trustee on the Board of the Rainforest Foundation UK. After gaining a BA in History, a Graduate Diploma in Law and a MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration studies, Josceline joined All Hands Volunteers in the Philippines supporting communities impacted by Typhoon Haiyan. She later joined the team full-time and has worked on natural disaster response and recovery projects around the world.

Jack Harrison
Learning and Evaluation Officer, The Henry Smith Charity
A former pupil of ICS Zurich, Jack has recently been appointed Learning and Evaluation Officer at The Henry Smith Charity, one of the largest grant making charities in Britain, which has been helping to combat disadvantage and poverty since 1628. Last year The Henry Smith Charity made grants of £39.7 million. Earlier this year Jack completed a Masters in Development & Gender Studies’ at SOAS, University of London, having previously worked for the Red Cross and mental health charity MIND after graduating with a degree in History from the University of Oxford. Jack is an active supporter of men’s health, including campaigns such as ‘Movember’.

Lesego Serolong
Founder of Bee Loved Honey and Co-Founder of Raise the Children International
A former pupil of Tiger Kloof, Lesego Serolong is founder and CEO of Bee Loved Honey, a social enterprise that tackles issues related to dwindling honeybee populations by investing in the entire honey value chain. Bee Loved manufactures hives, distributes them to local smallholder farmers, provides training to get them started as beekeepers, and buys back the honey. Lesego is also co-founder of Raise the Children International, a registered non-profit in South Africa, the USA, and the UK, that identifies self-motivated orphans from impoverished and rural communities and mobilizes resources for these children to gain access to higher education.

Ollie Thorn
Senior Manager, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Michael Page Recruitment and Trustee for Humanity Inclusion UK
A former pupil of Box Hill School, Ollie Thorn leads the Diversity and Inclusion client team at Michael Page Recruitment. Having survived a serious motorcycle accident at age 23, Ollie applies his experience of living with a spinal cord injury and as a full-time wheelchair user, to promote and facilitate greater diversity in recruitment and employment. Ollie is a Trustee of Humanity Inclusion UK, and Master Trainer for the International Committee of the Red Cross. He is an active charity fundraiser and recently completed a 300 mile #NoLimits London to Paris hand-cycling challenge to raise funds for Back Up, a UK Charity that supports people affected by spinal cord injury.