Panel I: Education

 

Impact of COVID-19:

1. How effective has been online learning during the COVID-19 and what did we learn to evaluate what aspects of the online classes should be improved?

2. What are new unprecedented challenges that the education system will face after the COVID-19 and what are the possible solutions?

3. Given the outbreak’s tremendous and profound impact on education sector, what measures are needed to mitigate the psychological stress of the COVID-19 on learners?

 

Online VS Offline Education:

4. How to discover the right blend between online and offline system of education to get education better delivered?

5. If the online learning becomes a new normal and a home becomes the learning environment, how will it affect friends circle, behavior and socio-emotional skills of new generation in long run?

 

Technology in Education: 

6. Can traditional campus-based education institutions adjust themselves to use the new technologies and approaches for educating, motivating and engaging their students?

7. In light of reorienting to e-learning education during the COVID-19, what are the best practices and expectations from technology? What is the role of technology in educational reform?

8. What can be done to mitigate digital divide and how to enhance digital literacy for self-guided learners?

 

Educational Policies:

9. The global pandemic has revolutionized the online learning landscape and reshaped application and management processes. Is the COVID-19 crisis driving a long-overdue revolution in the global education system or it’s just a temporary homeschooling?

10. What adaptable policies should be taken to work with the dynamics of the current evolving situation and how to make the education system more resilient?

 

Panel II: Climate change

 

Actions:

1. Will the actions we take today be enough to prevent the impacts of climate change or is it too little and too late? How much time is left until climate is irreversible?

2. What lessons we learnt from COVID-19 pandemic for climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies? How to build climate resilience management and how to adapt to new climate realities if the worst scenario is yet to come?

3. There’s a vast and growing gap between the urgency to fight climate change and the policies needed to combat it. How to bring people and communities along with the move to green and sustainable economy or it all comes down to political will?

4. How has COVID-19 crisis impacted our ability to tackle climate change and act on the climate crisis? What steps can be taken by governments to align their policy to benefit climate change in a post-COVID economy?

 

Historical view:

5. How has climate changed in the past? What is the difference of the current climate change compared to earlier changes in Earth's history?

6. Extensive carbon emission started since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution which brought to rise of average temperature of the Earth's climate system, how is the Technological Revolution helping in its downturn?

 

Greenhouse gases:

7. If emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced, how quickly would their concentrations in the atmosphere decrease? If we take action now, is it going to make a difference in our

8. How will cutting greenhouse gases emission affect the countries in terms of cost? How to manage both sustainable development and cut gases emissions, especially for developing countries where their economy heavily depends on it?

 

Renewable sources:

9. What are the direct impacts of the global pandemic on our climate in term of reducing carbon emission by closing the borders, restricting airplanes, locking down the cities and shutting down the plants and factories? How will the pandemic reshape the energy transition?

10. Given that renewable sources provide only a small percentage of our energy, what can we realistically do to get off fossil fuels as soon as possible and what other alternative sources do we need to reduce carbon dioxide emission?

 

Global warming:

11. Given the tendencies in rise of global temperatures and its consequences, what are the best and worst scenarios we can predict?

12. If climate is changing, why are some winters still very cold and summers hot? Why is the cold weather so extreme if the Earth is warming? How is extreme weather changing?