Eleanor Hamilton Clark and David Li, Under-Secretary Generals for Content
Under Secretary General for Content is the role that covers the writing, editing, formatting and final publishing on the Background Guides that delegates use to inform their research on their committee, as well as side-tasks such as proofreading these blog posts, designing training materials for both delegates and chairs, and running mock sessions! It’s an exciting role with a lot of variety and creativity involved, so without further ado, meet you USGs for Content:
ELEANOR
Hi! My name is Eleanor (she/her) and I am a second year Physics undergraduate at Merton College, Oxford. My first experience of MUN was 3 years ago at sixth form, where I became secretary-general of our MUN society. My main interest area is in climate change and so my favourite Committee would have to be COP as science, economics and international politics are all involved and balanced in COP. Climate change is one of the most pressing crises the UN needs to discuss and I love hearing everyone’s innovative ideas and optimism about the future. I also enjoy exploring how my extracurricular studies in Japanese and Italian can be applied to MUN to build cultural understanding and improve my diplomatic skills, and I would really recommend to delegates they try learning more languages; it is an invaluable skill that will teach you so much more than just how to communicate with other people.
Last year I had the opportunity to chair both the Non-Aligned Movement and COP28 with Oxford Global, and UNOOSA and SOCHUM at our international conference in China and India. As USG for Content I am currently editing the background guides for the committees, as well as supervising these blog posts and writing the training information. My number one piece of advice would be have a go! Be brave and speak whenever you can, I know it can be scary, but it truly is the best way to learn. I am very excited to welcome students from all over the world to the 2024 conference very soon in November!
Guilty pleasure song? Would have to be Cry Me a River by Julie London
Oddly specific talent? No limit on the number of cups of tea I can drink daily!
DAVID
My name is David (he/him), and I am a second year student studying PPE (Philosophy, Politics, Economics) at University College, Oxford, and I am honoured to serve as one of the two USGs of Content for OxfordMUN 2024. I was first introduced to Model UN in grade 11, when I was dragged into an advanced historical military crisis committee as an absolute beginner. Despite my abysmal performance, I immediately fell in love with Model UN. My main interest has always been in crisis. Delegates need to be constantly on their feet, thinking of creative solutions to unexpected problems, and there is always an exceptional level of diplomacy and leadership necessary in every bloc and every resolution. My love for crises stems from my interest in geopolitics. I’ve always found geopolitics to be an intuitive way to look at politics in general, and conflicts in particular, and so on any given day when I am not cramming for an essay or an exam, I might be found standing over a map of Ukraine, the Middle East, Yemen, or some other more obscure map, moving pins around or labelling cities. I’ve found the academics side of MUN very educational, and so when I applied to Oxford Global, I chose to become the Content USG so I can help create more memorable conferences and crises for delegates as well. I look forward to welcoming students from all over the world to the 2024 conference in November!
Lunch with a celebrity? Pericles of ancient Athens! I would love to hear Pericles' own vision for these seeds that he planted on philosophy, democracy, etc.
Oddly specific talent? I can wake up fifteen minutes before the alarm that I set. It doesn't matter what time I set my alarm for, I almost always find myself awake fifteen minutes before my alarm rings.