The British Festival Debate brought together world class debaters from the UK, Qatar and the rest of the world to discuss an important topical issue in front of a cross-generational audience. Debate Mate and Qatar Debate are two organisations inspiring young people across the globe to take part in debating, and the motion ‘Should parents have access to their children’s social media accounts’ produced high quality arguments and lively public discussion.
The event aimed to encourage debate amongst students and professionals, and showed that anybody can become a debater, and that debating is a crucial skill internationally and professionally. It was followed by a panel made up of representatives from business and academia including Gerd Nonneman, Dean of Georgetown University in Qatar, Dr Hayat Maarafi Executive Director at Qatar Foundation, QatarDebate and Rob Sherwin, Deputy Country Chairman at Qatar Shell.
Zuha Sattar: Winner of the UK prize trip!
“The debate was great! My teacher told me about it because I’m part of the debate club, so I came to observe these top debaters from the UK and Qatar and it was super inspiring.”, top under 15 Qatari debater and winner of the British Council’s UK prize trip to London to see a debate in the House of Commons.
