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AlUla hosts second Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends

Nobel laureates and fellow dignitaries at Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra, during the three-day Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends 2022 in AlUla. (Supplied)
Nobel laureates and fellow dignitaries at Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra, during the three-day Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends 2022 in AlUla. (Supplied)
His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud delivers closing remarks at the Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends 2022 in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. (Supplied)
His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud delivers closing remarks at the Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends 2022 in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. (Supplied)
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07 Jun 2022 04:06:02 GMT9
07 Jun 2022 04:06:02 GMT9
  • Shoura Council member Maha Al-Senan: ‘Today, we can understand individuals from different cultures and realize that we are alike. Our problems are alike, our cases are alike.’
  • The rapid production of COVID-19 vaccines to tackle the pandemic proves that people can work together, said Karen Hallberg, 2019 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science laureate

Arab News

ALULA: Nobel laureates and experts gathered at a major conference here have urged the world’s leaders, organizations, and individuals, to work together to solve the planet’s pressing socio-economic and health challenges, much like they did around the COVID-19 pandemic.

The appeal was made during a panel discussion titled “Uniting the World: Is a Common Cause What We Miss?” on Sunday, at the 2022 Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends.

The gathering brings together Nobel laureates of peace, economics, literature, physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, with social and political leaders, to discuss the world’s leading social problems and offer solutions to improve the state of humanity.

The first Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends was held in early 2020 as a gathering of Nobel Laureates. Following the success of the inaugural edition, the latest edition welcomed esteemed laureates from a range of prestigious awards.

The conference brought together a diverse mix of intellectuals including: Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchu-Tum (Nobel Peace Prize, 1992), former Polish President Lech Walesa (Nobel Peace Prize, 1983), journalists Michael Moss (Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, 2010) and Jeff Gottlieb (Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, 2011); Prof. Omar M. Yaghi, The James and Neeltje Tretter Chair at the University of California Berkeley (King Faisal Prize); and Dominique Langevin, the research director at Europe’s largest fundamental science agency – Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS (UNESCO for Women in Science).

Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, led a strong Saudi contingent at the conference that also included Princess Noura bint Turki Al Saud, founding partner of Aeon Strategy, and Ibrahim Muhammad Al Sultan, a member of the RCU board of directors.

Al Sultan emphasised the global significance of the conference in his opening address: “The Hegra Conference of Nobel Laureates & Friends is a reflection of AlUla’s legacy of important knowledge exchange and dialogue. It is a powerful attempt to analyse the most critical issues facing humanity today and to create actionable recommendations.”

Also in attendance was a contingent of about 20 Saudi high-school and university students, many of whom had benefited from the Kingdom’s Mawhiba programme for gifted youths. The students contributed to several discussions at the conference, in particular a final-day forum on young people as the builders of the coming decade.

The discussion was held at Maraya Concert Hall in AlUla and included Maha Al-Senan, Shoura Council member; Prof. Karen Hallberg, 2019 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science laureate; and Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

During the discussion, Al-Senan said that in a changing world individual communication has become effective and should be used to strengthen joint action on the world’s challenges. “We must take this into consideration. Today, we can understand individuals from different cultures and realize that we are alike. Our problems are alike, our cases are alike,” she told Arab News.

“I think in this era … we should speak from one person to another, from one nation as individuals to others to make ourselves more visible, to show that we have common interests,” she said.

“We have common problems (so) that if we have a way to deal with this problem, we can share that knowledge with others instead of always going through governments. This is a trend that’s happening, it’s already there. As researchers, we have to study that, not always to focus on impact and actions of governments only,” she added.

Al-Senan used the Kingdom as an example, and said that in the past, people thought Saudi Arabia was a closed nation and that its, “people were not welcoming. They think about what is happening today, dealing with individuals face to face either through tourists, people who are coming to work in the Kingdom, or through social platforms … nations have known Saudi Arabia through the individuals,” she said.

“And now they have a different perspective about our nation, about our society. Now people are seeing us in a different manner,” she added.

Hallberg referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as an example of collective responsibility and the world working together against the pandemic.

“Worldwide, the scientists could very quickly reach a vaccine and this was fundamental to really overcome the virus and the pandemic,” she told Arab News.

Kholoud Al-Manea, destination management manager at the Royal Commission for AlUla, said region has always been a crossroads of civilization where people have gathered to share their intellectual knowledge, solutions and ideas.

“The main objective of this event … is to create decisive outcomes that will (become) tangible initiatives that we will be implementing in the next 14 months in AlUla,” she said.

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