The Australia-India Youth Dialogue (AIYD), of which Macquarie University was a founding partner, is gearing up for its second conference in Australia on 30 January -1 February 2013. The conference will see 15 young leaders from India meet and engage with 15 of the best and brightest young leaders of Australia, in both Melbourne and Sydney.

As a co-founder of the AIYD, Macquarie alumnus Shaun Star (now a lawyer in Delhi) has been involved in planning the conference and lining up a range of high-profile speakers. Shaun and team are hosting two conferences in Melbourne and Sydney this week, where delegates will hear from an amazing line up of speakers (Australian ministers, the NSW Premier, Indian defence representatives and more).

“We have finalized an amazing line-up of speakers, from the Honourable Chris Bowen, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, to the former head of India’s Defence Intelligence Agency, Lt Gen Kamal Davar. They’ll be talking about everything from international security, to education, investment and sustainability.”

Shaun is due to start a new role as Associate at one of India’s largest law firms in Delhi in February 2013, but before then, is looking forward to the connections that will be made through the dialogue. Some of the delegates to the conference include Lawyer Antony Anisse, also a Macquarie alumnus (Sydney), 2010 Australian Young Journalist of the Year, Latika Bourke (Canberra), George Muthoot Alexander,
Vice President, Muthoot Finance (Bangalore), Indian Olympic swimmer Hakimmudin Habibulla (Bangalore), Bhuvana Anand, Director of Development and Communications at the Centre for Civil Society (New Delhi) and Bhakti Vithalani, Founder and CEO of Big Spring (Mumbai).

Professor John Simons, Executive Dean of Macquarie University’s Faculty of Arts, says that the AIYD has an influential role in the relationship between Australia and India.