Over 300 youth attend the foundation's “Leaders of Tomorrow” Conference in Brčko

On Friday 29th of March, over 300 young people from Brčko District attended the Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation conference “Leaders of Tomorrow” held in the Dom Kulture in Brčko. Attendees had the pleasure of listening to four very inspirational presentation of individuals from Brčko who have gone on to build incredible careers all over the world. The conference was organised in partnership between the Brčko District Government and the Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation.

The conference was attended by high school students, students and young professionals from the Brčko District of BiH and the surrounding communities, and its aim is to help them become familiar with the paths and opportunities in IT, STEM and other sectors, as well as to inspire them with successful stories from their areas of interest. The conference was opened by the successful accordionist Siniša Ljubojević from Brčko, and their stories were presented by Miralem Salihović - head of solutions and technology at Apple in the USA, Ida Fazlić - doctoral candidate at the European Facility for Synchrotron Radiation in the Netherlands, Arman Korajac - researcher in the field of theoretical physics particle, PhD student at the University of Ljubljana, Ena Žunić-Ćejvanović – data science and machine learning engineer and Dr. sc. Adis Puška - Department for Public Security of the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They talked about the latest trends in the world of technology, science, engineering, business, product development and services.

"I am extremely pleased that after many conferences and speeches that I have given all over the world, today for the first time I have the opportunity to speak in front of an audience from my hometown. My role is to share with young people what my profession actually is, how I got to the position I currently hold, how they can follow a similar academic path and how they can get financial support. My project currently focuses mostly on researching Rebrandt's most impressive work 'The Night Watch' in Amsterdam. Also, I collaborated with colleagues from the Louvre in Paris and we did scientific analyzes on the world's most famous work 'Mona Lisa'", said Ida Fazlić, winner of one of the biggest awards for young restorers in the world.

"The world of physics and particles is a very interesting field of science, and working as a young researcher is very rewarding because you travel a lot and meet very smart and interesting people, and I believe that for success there is only work and effort, which is also my message to young people ", pointed out Arman Korajac.

The conference was joined by the mayor of the Brčko district of BiH, prim. Ph.D. Zijad Nišić, head of the Sub-Department for Joint Affairs of Education Samir Čorbadžić, head of the Sub-Department for Secondary Education Srđan Kisić and head of the Sub-Department for Higher Education and Science Aleksandar Maksimović. "I want to emphasize the importance of young people in our society and give them space for ideas that will shape our future. I am especially happy to see our successful Brčaks, whom I can freely say are ambassadors of our city. We will continue to strongly support education as the foundation of our future," Čorbadžić pointed out.

"Young people had the opportunity to hear the incredible stories of speakers who have changed their lives and their communities through the importance of volunteer engagement, through local initiatives and non-formal education. We want to emphasize the importance of volunteer engagement as a tool for self-improvement and community development, but also to continuously provide young people with career counseling and help them better prepare for job interviews and the labor market in general," emphasized Selma Begovic, the director of Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation.

After the conference, a panel discussion entitled "Volunteering as a springboard for a career" was held where four young volunteers, Mirsad Zahirovic, Adnan Ferhatovic, Asja Hadzic and Edna Mulic, shared their experiences in how volunteering helped them achieve a lot in their early careers.