It has never been more important to invest in the next generation and their capacity to tackle the increasingly complex challenges in the decades to come.  Children born this year will – if all goes well– graduate from high school in the year 2030. But what kind of skills will they have and need? Global reports indicate a persistent and complex shortfall in education: high school is the phase of education when students report the least engagement in learning and question the relevance of what they are learning. For this very reason, the second event in the Equinox Summit series presented by Waterloo Global Science Initiative (WGSI) is centred on learning, and its specific focus is high school.  

This event will bring together a multinational, multidisciplinary, and multigenerational group of experts to explore best practices and promising initiatives in education aimed at empowering students in their creativity and potential. The end result will be a framework for the Equinox Blueprint – a document that will provide clear recommendations on building a learning environment that fosters critical thinking, problem solving, and innovation.

The Summit Curator, Michael Brooks, is an author, journalist, and broadcaster with a PhD in quantum physics. He is a consultant at New Scientist and writes a weekly column for New Statesman. He is the author of the bestselling 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense and Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science. Combining his passion for education with journalistic scrutiny, he is leading the team charged with assessing promising learning pathways for the decades ahead and reporting recommendations in the Equinox Blueprint.