Plenary with Nik Gowing: The Need to Think the Unthinkable
Across the education sector, the last nine months have tested our resilience and innovative skills to levels few ever thought possible.The unexpected and unthinkables are far from over. The acute challenges created by the pandemic will be further multiplied for the climate emergency.How can we learn - and teach - to acknowledge the unthinkable and prepare for it?What do we all need to adapt, survive and then thrive?Nik Gowing is founder and director of www.thinkunthinkable.org. At OEB 2019 he warned our sector to be prepared for unthinkables. He returns for OEB 2020 to share new ideas for how we can innovate and transform to cope with the next unthinkables.Please join this virtual plenary with your thoughts and ideas.
Speakers
Nik Gowing
Founder and Director www.thinkunthinkable.org, UK
In 2018 Nik Gowing co-authored (with Chris Langdon) “Thinking the Unthinkable”. In this era of a new disruption leaders reveal that they are ‘scared’, ‘confused’ and ‘overwhelmed’ especially by the new short termism. Nik founded the ongoing, dynamic project in 2014.
Nik was a main news presenter for BBC World News 1996-2014. He presented The Hub with Nik Gowing, BBC World Debates, Dateline London.
For 18 years he worked at ITN. He was bureau chief in Rome and Warsaw, and Diplomatic Editor for Channel Four News (1988-1996). He has been on the councils of Chatham House (1998–2004), the Royal United Services Institute (2005–present), the Overseas Development Institute (2007-2014), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (1996-2005).
Nik was been a Visiting Professor at Kings College, London and Nanyang University (NTU), Singapore. In 2018 advised the President of the UN General Assembly on leadership challenges.
Links
Monika Weber-Fahr
WORLD BANK GROUP, Austria
Monika Weber Fahr is Chief Operating Officer at Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All).
Previously, Monika was Chief Knowledge Officer and Senior Manager at the World Bank Group's Independent Evaluation Vice Presidency. Transforming how the World Bank Group and its staekholders learn from independent evaluation was her primary focus, working with IEG evaluators on shaping their products and engagement tools for enhanced uptake and usability - with the ultimate objective to deepen World Bank Group impact and effectiveness. Monika's teams also delivered IT supported analytical tools and coordinated partnerships and capacity development for evaluation, both within the Bank Group and externally. In her previous assignment, as Director for Knowledge, Learning and Results for Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Monika oversaw quality and portfolio management for knowledge services that were specifically designed to strengthen sustainable development. She was an advocate for innovative approaches in generating new knowledge and learning opportunities for the Bank Group and its clients.
Monika has worked for several years with the private sector, setting up and leading within the International Finance Corporation (IFC) its Business Line for Sustainable Business Advisory. She also worked with the World Bank Institute (WBI) where she built and led the Global Development Learning Network and Multimedia Division at the World Bank Institute (WBI), spearheading the Institute’s engagement with an international partnership of independent Learning Centers. In 2000, Monika led the team that designed and delivered the World Bank’s first global innovation competition, the Development Marketplace. Monika brings private sector experience also from working several years with the Boston Consulting Group. She holds a PhD in business economics. Monika and her family live in Washington DC.
Monika heads the Council of the Centers for Learning in Evaluation and Results (CLEAR) Initiative and is a member of the Board of COSA (Committee on Sustainability Assessment).