Yesterday, I had the privilege of giving a brief presentation about my Model Arctic Council (MAC) initiative to a conference of Model United Nations (MUN) Advisers—secondary-school teachers who encourage and support their pupils as they prepare for and participate in simulated UN diplomacy.

MUN has existed almost as long as the United Nations itself, and there are a number of different MUN formats used at schools and universities today.  My presentation was part of a session comparing the strengths and weaknesses of these formats, and I hope that the assembled advisers found it interesting to learn about MAC as an exciting new alternative to MUN.  In particular, I emphasised the features that set both MAC and the real Arctic Council apart—the requirement of full diplomatic consensus, the emphasis on collaborative problem-solving, the participation of indigenous peoples, and the thematic focus on the fascinating and fast-changing Arctic.

MUN Advisers and others interested in MAC can download the slides from my presentation from this website.  And pupils from secondary-schools around the world are most welcome to participate in one of three school-level MACs that I will run next year—NORMAC, MAC Bilbao and WYCOMAC.

Very many thanks to Wycombe Abbey MUN for hosting an excellent conference, and for the opportunity to introduce MAC to the participating teachers!