The One Young World Academy is a globally recognised e-learning platform designed to empower young leaders to make an impact. Developed with the InterAction Council's sponsorship, we are launching a short course focused on the existential threats that will define humanity's future. This course will provide an introduction to existential security threats, planetary leadership as the method, and Strategy X-EXIST as the plan to tackle them.
About the course
Our world faces interconnected dangers from climate change to ungoverned AI that connect and amplify each other. This course will focus on the need for planetary leadership: governments, scientists, communities, and young people working together across borders with a shared long-term vision to tackle existential threats.
Strategy X-EXIST, built around four pillars Planet, People, Peace, and Prosperity calls for stronger global governance, early warning systems, and responsible technology regulation to prevent existential risks and secure a safe, flourishing future for all. This course will examine how young leaders can engage with and advance this strategy in their own work, communities, and fields
Why apply?
Expert Guidance
Learn from InterAction Council representatives, as well as leading global experts, about the most pressing existential threats facing humanity and the strategies being developed to address them.
Make an Impact
Gain practical insight into how young leaders can contribute to the goals of Strategy X-EXIST, embedding its core principles into your own work across climate, health, peace, and technology governance.
Build your credentials
Upon completion, receive a verified digital certificate from One Young World Academy that you can share on social media and include in your CV to demonstrate your engagement with planetary leadership and global security threats. Participants will also get guaranteed access to the Massive Open Online Course titled Planetary Leadership by Interaction Council
Course content and assessment
The course consists of one comprehensive module titled Global and Planetary Security - Prevent and Reduce Risks from Existential Threats of approximately 45 minutes. The module will include a short quiz to test your understanding of key concepts.
This module opens with an introductory address by Dr Jo Nurse on existential security threats and the relevance of planetary leadership, followed by a keynote speech that outlines the InterAction Council's Strategy X-EXIST in full. The session examines the four interconnected threat domains, Planet, People, Peace, and Prosperity, and the governance, advocacy, and intergenerational leadership approaches the strategy recommends. It sets the stage for understanding both the scale of the challenge and the role young leaders must play in responding to it.
This module will also bring together a leading sector expert and four young leaders working at the sharp end of existential challenges: climate tipping points, pandemic preparedness, peacebuilding, and AI governance. Supported with an action reading, participants will explore what Strategy X-EXIST demands in practice from institutions, from policymakers, and from young leaders themselves and how the next generation is already building the systems, coalitions, and cultures of peace that humanity urgently needs.
Timeline
Application close: August 7
This course is for you if you identify with one or more of the following -
- You are actively working to make a difference: You are a professional, civil servant, community organizer, business leader, or NGO worker who is already active on the ground.
- You deal with complex, overlapping problems: Your daily work involves challenges like climate impacts, public health, community safety, or new technologies where simple, one-size-fits-all checklists do not work.
- You want to see the bigger picture: You are eager to learn how different issues connect and affect each other, helping you avoid fixing one problem while accidentally creating another.
- You care deeply about fairness and future generations: You believe that real progress must protect the environment, respect diverse local and traditional wisdom, and leave a secure world for those who come after us.
- You prefer practical action over pure theory: You are looking for concrete, operational tools and blueprints to put plans into action in your community, rather than just reading academic papers.
- You are in a position to influence change: You have the opportunity, agency, or community trust to test new approaches and make improvements within your organization, neighborhood, or city.
- You want to use technology responsibly: You are interested in using digital tools and data to serve people, but you want to do so while protecting privacy, avoiding bias, and making sure no one is left behind.
- You want to lead without burning out: You recognize that working on tough global issues is demanding, and you are ready to learn daily habits that protect your own well-being and keep you motivated for the long run.