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Attending the Conference

Get Informed

Who can attend?

SheffWHO is open to all current university students, recent graduates, and young professionals interested in global health. We even have delegates coming to join us from other continents! If you’re not sure if you fit these categories, or if this would be a suitable event for you, please get in touch with us.

Is this event for “beginners”? I don’t have any experience with WHO simulations or model United Nations.

You’ll be pleased to know that approximately half of our currently registered delegates have told us that they don’t any experience in simulations at all! We’ll teach you what you need to know, and we’ll answer your questions if you’re unsure at any stage. If you’re interested in a career in global health, this is just one of the many benefits of attending SheffWHO - you have some experience under your belt before you are thrown in the deep end at a real World Health Organisation!

I’m a little bit worried because I’m not a native English speaker! Will I be able to participate adequately? What level of language skills are required?

Even though we don’t have the resources to provide in-ear translations like they do at the real WHA, we still have great news for you: approximately a third of our current registered delegates are also non-native speakers of English! As long as you are able to read and understand position papers written in English, and have enough listening comprehension to follow debates, you will be fine. And of course you are allowed to bring dictionaries with you to SheffWHO. It’s not like it’s an exam!

Just to help me decide in advance, what roles are available within each category?

Here are the roles that were available when we opened our registration. You can probably understand that we’ve received quite a few sign-ups since then, and some of them have already been allocated to your fellow delegates and therefore are no longer available:

  • Member States: 82 countries are available, so we will not list them all here. Basically, name some countries and we will see if we can assign them to you!

  • Pharmaceutical Industry

  • Media

  • NGOs: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Médicins Sans Frontières, Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, International Physicians For the Prevention of Nuclear War

So I can choose which delegate role I am assigned?

You can definitely select your preferred delegate role, and we will see if we are able to assign this to you. You can even submit a request to be a particular country or organisation. If you have a burning reason why you would like to be assigned to a particular role, please be sure to let us know! Obviously, the availability of your preferred role will depend on whether it has already been assigned to another delegate. We are assigning roles on a first-come first-served basis. We are also running the event with a reduced number of countries, in order to ensure a balance of delegates between the different WHO Regions. Therefore, some countries may not be available for assignment.

What does the timetable look like?

The final event timetable can be found in the delegate guide, which you can download here. 

Will we have guest speakers? Who are they?

We have an exciting lineup of local and international speakers. Please see our conference speaker section!

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