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Northwestern Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs

The Peace We Make: A Youth-Led Buffett Symposium

The Roberta Buffett Institute's 2025–26 Brave New Futures event series began with The Peace We Make: A Youth-Led Buffett Symposium. 

Young people are leading global efforts to end conflict, defend human rights, and advocate for sustainable peace. This student-led symposium brought together activists, politicians, NGO leaders, and negotiators from across the world to explore how youth are transforming the future of peace and justice. The daylong program featured a special conversation with Nobel Peace Laureate Nadia Murad.

Watch the recording

00:00:00Opening Remarks

  • Deborah Cohen, Director of the Roberta Buffett Institute and Richard W. Leopold Professor of History, Northwestern University

  • Giavanna Chopra and Liana Liu Ioannides, undergraduates at Northwestern University and members of the Institute’s Youth & Peacebuilding Working Group that organized this Buffett Symposium

00:10:48Opening Plenary with Claire Hajaj, Executive Director of Inter Mediate

  • Moderated by Liana Liu Ioannides

01:00:41Panel Discussion: Youth Architects of Peace

  • Alana Gebremariam, Belarusian pro-democracy activist and elected member of the Coordination Council facilitating a democratic transfer of power in Belarus

  • Amos Kiyingi, Founder and National Director of Uganda Unites

  • Cristina Rosero-Arteaga, Senior Legal Adviser for the Center for Reproductive Rights’ Latin America & Caribbean Program

  • Moderated by Giavanna Chopra

02:23:25Conversation with Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of Nadia's Initiative

  • Moderated by Wendy Pearlman, Jane Long Professor of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University

Learn more about the speakers >>