Harvard World Model United Nations

The Harvard World Model United Nations (WorldMUN) is an annual traveling model United Nations conference that is run by Harvard University and a local university team from a host city. WorldMUN moves to a new city each year and is regarded as one of the most prestigious international MUN conferences today.^{[citation needed]} The Conference was first held in 1992.^[1] The Conference targets college students from all over the world who have a passion and interest to become a diplomat in the future.^{[citation needed]}

Harvard World Model United Nations

Abbreviation	WorldMUN
Formation	1992
Type	NGO
Purpose	Education
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Official language	English
Secretary General	Kevin Lin
Main organ	WorldMUN Philippines
Website	www.worldmun.org

General information and history

WorldMUN uses a competitive bidding process to select locations for each conference, with prospective host teams, usually consisting of the MUN societies of large universities, applying.

The conference is generally held in March.

WorldMUN uses the American style of model United Nations, with almost all delegates paired with another from their delegation (in dual delegations), with discussions occurring both inside and outside the rooms simultaneously.

Committees have in the past included committees of the United Nations General Assembly, the Security Council, the subcommittees of ECOSOC, regional bodies (such as the African Union or European Union), specialized agencies of the United Nations, crisis simulation committees and uniquely, simulations of the entire general assembly.

As most other conferences, there are also workshops, social events showcasing local culture and a global village, where participant teams can share delicacies and traditions from their home countries. In addition, WorldMUN has had many distinguished guest speakers over the years, notably Pope Francis in Rome and King Felipe VI in Madrid.

From 2016 onwards, the conference began giving out WorldMUN spirit awards to teams, for showing exceptional adherence to the spirit of WorldMUN and the United Nations. The team from Andrés Bello Catholic University (Venezuela) were the first recipients of this award.

The organization works closely with a social impact-oriented group, the Resolution Project, aimed at fostering global youth leadership. The Resolution Project was founded by WorldMUN Secretariat alumni.

The 29th edition of the conference was scheduled for Tokyo in March 2020, but it was cancelled and initially rescheduled to 2021. However, with the continued health safety concerns and the pandemic's prevailing impact on global travel, the Tokyo 2021 conference was rescheduled again to 2022. The 2021 conference happened virtually over Zoom.

Conference activities

Committee sessions

Participants are assigned to represent countries, organizations, or leaders in order to debate pressing international issues in a simulated session of an intergovernmental organization (IGO). WorldMUN divides all its committees into three organs:

General Assembly

ECOSOC and Regional Bodies

Specialized Agencies

Social Venture challenge

The social venture challenge allows interested participants to compete for grants to implement their creative solutions for healthcare, education, human rights, technology, water, and other areas. This is through WorldMUN's partnership with the Resolution Project, a U.S. 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2007 by WorldMUN alumni, dedicated to empowering young leaders around the world through collaborative social entrepreneurship.

In-conference activities

These include in-conference trips and workshops. The trips give conference participants a change to explore the host city and its culture whereas the workshops allow participants to interact with diplomats, politicians and academics to discuss a variety of .

Social events

WorldMUN also organizes social events, most of which look like the following:

• Night Zero: Before the conference kicks off, delegates and staff gather for a night out to inaugurate the conference.
• Global Village: Every year, WorldMUN starts off its social agenda with Global Village. This is the first opportunity for delegates to meet each other in a social setting. Delegations host a booth where they share traditions, delicacies, and more from their home countries.
• Featured night 1: An event for participants to experience the host city's local culture.
• Cabaret: Delegates showcase their talents on stage in the Cabaret on the third night.
• Featured night 2: Another event for participants to experience the host city's local culture.
• Farewell Party: Traditionally, WorldMUN closes with this final social event.

WorldMUN Conferences

Session	Year	Location
		City	Country	Secretary-General	Host Team President	Director-General	Local Host Team	Conference Venue	Delegation Awards	Ref.
1	1992	Miedzyzdroje	Poland	Geraldine Acuña	N/A		N/A	Vienna House Amber Baltic Miedzyzdroje		[2]
2	1993	Prague	Czech Republic	Joshua A. Saloman	N/A		N/A
3	1994	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	Ankur U. Saraiya	N/A		N/A
4	1995	Geneva	Switzerland	Emmeline Li	N/A		N/A
5	1996	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Aram A. Schvey	N/A		N/A
6	1997	Budapest	Hungary	Andras Forgacs	Illes Dudas		Budapest University of Economic Sciences
7	1998	Brussels	Belgium	Johs Pierce			Vrije Universiteit Brussel		Best Delegation: Universidade de Brasilia
8	1999	Cambridge	United Kingdom	Winnie Li	Julian Huppert		University of Cambridge
9	2000	Athens	Greece	James Mwangi			National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
10	2001	Istanbul	Turkey	Rohan Gulrajani
11	2002	Belo Horizonte	Brazil	Aspasia Karalis			Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais	Ouro Minas Palace Hotel	Best Large Delegation: Yale University Best Small Delegation:
12	2003	Heidelberg	Germany	George Tsiatis			University of Heidelberg	University of Heidelberg - Old Town Campus	Best Large Delegation: Best Small Delegation: West Point Military Academy
13	2004	Sharm El-Sheikh	Egypt	George Tsiatis			Modern Sciences and Arts University	Maritim Jolie Ville Mövenpick Golf, Resort & Conference Center	Best Large Delegation: Best Small Delegation: West Point Military Academy
14	2005	Edinburgh	United Kingdom	Alex Captain			University of Edinburgh	University of Edinburgh	Best Large Delegation: The College of William & Mary Best Small Delegation: West Point Military Academy
15	2006	Beijing	China	Victor Bicalho			Peking University	Peking University	Best Large Delegation: The College of William & Mary Best Small Delegation: West Point Military Academy
16	2007	Geneva	Switzerland	Khalid Yasin			École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Centre International de Conférences Genève	Best Large Delegation: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello Best Small Delegation: Lahore University of Management Sciences
17	2008	Puebla	Mexico	Joseph Kerns	Manuel Rosas Vázquez		Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla	Puebla Convention Center	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Best Small Delegation: Lahore University of Management Sciences Outstanding Large Delegation: Universidad Central de Venezuela
18	2009	The Hague	Netherlands	Timur Kalimov	José Dominguez Alvarez		United Netherlands	World Forum Convention Center and the International Criminal Court	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Best Small Delegation: Lahore University of Management Sciences
19	2010	Taipei	Taiwan	Ami Nash	Jason Tsung-Cheng Hou		National Taiwan University	Taipei International Convention Center	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Best Small Delegation: Lahore University of Management Sciences
20	2011	Singapore	Singapore	Reihan Nadarajah	Jing Zhi & Sharmeen Alam		National University of Singapore	Suntec Singapore International Convention Centre	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Best Small Delegation:	[3]
21	2012	Vancouver	Canada	Kat Tang	Kenneth Chan		University of British Columbia	Vancouver Convention Centre	Best Large Delegation: Universidad Catolica Andres Bello Best Small Delegation: Claremont McKenna College	[4]
22	2013	Melbourne	Australia	Charlene Wong	Siamak Loni		Monash University & RMIT University	Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Best Small Delegation: The College of William & Mary Outstanding Large Delegation: Universidad Central de Venezuela	[5]
23	2014	Brussels	Belgium	Grace Y. Qi	Jens Wauters	Lisa Wang	MUN Society Belgium	Egmont Palace, European Council and The Hotel Brussels	Best Large Delegation: Peruvian Universities[6] Outstanding Large Delegation: Universidad Simón Bolívar[7] Best Small Delegation: Georgetown University[8]	[9]
24	2015	Seoul	Republic of Korea	Brian K. Mwarania	Hyun-Joo Lee		Hankuk University of Foreign Studies	Korea International Exhibition Center	Best Large Delegation: Universidad Simón Bolívar Outstanding Large Delegation: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello Best Small Delegation: Claremont McKenna College	[10]
25	2016	Rome	Italy	Joseph P. Hall	Riccardo Messina	Daniel Dong	United Network Association	Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Outstanding Large Delegation: Peruvian Universities Best Small Delegation: Claremont McKenna College WorldMUN Spirit Award: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello	[11][12][13]
26	2017	Montreal	Canada	Parijat Lal	Jonathan Sasson	Nabig Chaudhary	Dawson College	Palais des congrès de Montréal	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Outstanding Large Delegation: be.boosted Best Small Delegation: Washington University in St. Louis Outstanding Small Delegation: West Point Military Academy WorldMUN Spirit Award: Universidad Metropolitana	[14]
27	2018	Panama City	Panama	Nicholas Abbott	Alan Smith	Catherine Brennan	Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua	Atlapa Convention Centre	Best Large Delegation: Peruvian Debate Society[15] Outstanding Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Best Small Delegation: Claremont McKenna College Outstanding Small Delegation: Georgetown University WorldMUN Spirit Award: Universidad Metropolitana	[16][17][18]
28	2019	Madrid	Spain	Spencer Ma	Alba Gavaliugov Mendez	Manav Khandelwal	Spanish Alliance of Model United Nations	Palacio Municipal de Congresos	Best Large Delegation: Universidad Metropolitana Outstanding Large Delegation: Peruvian Debate Society Best Small Delegation: Claremont McKenna College Outstanding Small Delegation: Princeton University WorldMUN Spirit Award: Universidad Simón Bolívar	[19][20]
29	2021	Tokyo	Japan	Anirudh Suresh	Jiaqi Liu	Esteban Flores	Sophia University	Online	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Outstanding Large Delegation: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello & Universidad Metropolitana Best Small Delegation: American University of Beirut Outstanding Small Delegation: University of Indonesia WorldMUN Spirit Award University of Indonesia Best High School Delegation Institutos Educacionales Asociados	[a]
30	2022	Tokyo	Japan	Hope Kudo	Kanon Yamagishi	Javin Pombra	Sophia University	Online	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Best Small Delegation: Peruvian Universities & Peruvian Debate Society
31	2023	Paris	France	Olivia Fu	Eric Guiochon & Mathieu Bailly	Katherine Zhu	Comité Interuniversitaire des Nations Unies de Paris (CINUP)	Trocadéro Business Centre Sorbonne University	Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Outstanding Large Delegation: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello Best Small Delegation: Lahore University of Management Sciences Outstanding Small Delegation: Hult MUN WorldMUN Spirit Award Universidad Metropolitana Best High School Delegation [22]
32	2024	Taipei	Taiwan	Davin Shi	Erica Peng & Rubin Ku	Michael Baxter	MUN Society Taiwan		Best Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Outstanding Delegation: Peruvian Universities & West Point Military Academy WorldMUN Spirit Award Universidad Católica Andrés Bello	[23]
33	2025	Manila	Philippines	Kevin Lin	Tyler Javier & Phoebe Silang	Ashley Romo	WorldMUN Philippines		Best Large Delegation: MUN Society Belgium Outstanding Large Delegation: Peruvian Universities & Universidad Católica Andrés Bello Best Small Delegation: American University of Beirut Outstanding Small Delegation: Claremont McKenna College WorldMUN Spirit Award: be.boosted	[24]

See also

• Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference – another MUN travelling conference
• Harvard International Relations Council
• List of model United Nations conferences – a list of notable MUN conferences
• Model United Nations