2026 Student Corner
Olivia Bornyi
STUDENT SPEAKERS
Olivia Bornyi is a Canadian student driven by a commitment to shaping resilient peace through positive narratives and multilateralism. She is currently the President of Peacebuilding Initiative, driving forward the #YPS Agenda by connecting aspiring peacebuilders with seasoned professionals. Olivia is a firm believer in the transformative power of communication, having spoken at Geneva Peace Week’s Opening Ceremony: ‘Youth are Generation Now’. She is excited to join the 2026 TEDxGVAGrad lineup and share her insights.
Vesper Junqueira
Vesper Junqueira is a Brazilian lawyer, climate justice advocate, and first-year MINT student specializing in Environment and Sustainability. Their work explores the intersection of climate justice and queer justice, asking how climate change reveals the myth of borders and binaries and what it means to belong in a warming world. Drawing on decolonial thought, art, and storytelling, Vesper examines how imagination itself can become a form of resistance in times of ecological crisis.
Gargi Manek
Gargi Manek is a master’s student in the interdisciplinary MINT programme, specialising in Human Rights and Humanitarianism. She explores how international legal frameworks function in contexts of conflict and crisis, building on her academic background in International Relations from King’s College London. Having grown up as a third culture kid, Gargi brings lived cross-cultural experience to her work, shaping her interest in the intersection of law, identity, and humanitarian response across diverse global contexts.
STUDENT PERFORMERS
Morgane Bascle
Morgane Bascle is a student at the Graduate Institute and co-founder of OxFounders Global, a non-profit supporting talented founders in emerging markets by connecting them to funding and global networks. She has worked with hundreds of startups across ten countries and advised governments on innovation strategy, with her work featured in national media in multiple countries.
She now focuses on how Europe can strengthen its own capacity for growth and innovation.
Vrinda Kapoor
I’m Vrinda, a MINT Migration student from London. I think a lot about how people navigate uncertain worlds, and music has always been a big part of how I explore those ideas. I’m drawn to alt-rock and indie for their rawness, and I perform them on acoustic sets, sharing songs that matter to me and hoping they connect with whoever is listening.
Bahar Sharifi
My name is Bahar. I am currently doing my master’s in anthropology and sociology at the Graduate Institute. I was born and raised in Iran, and I have always been interested in Persian and Middle Eastern music. What I really like about Iranian classical music is how it expresses history and tells stories. Since music engages our senses, it allows us to connect to history and stories and to truly feel them.
