Who do you Choose? Mars Colony Selection Committee, 2089

 
 

Topic Summary

The year is 2089. Within the last century, Earth has been ravaged by climate change and nuclear contamination, faced with droughts and disease that threaten the future of humanity. In a bid to ensure our survival, a global effort was initiated during the 2060s to rapidly progress the requirements for a Mars Colony. This year, the technology and resources were finally ready to deploy a limited population of humans to Mars. What has not been agreed upon is who deserves to be sent—the very purpose of this committee. Delegates will step into the shoes of space agencies, anti-colonization organizations, aerospace companies, and notable political figures, all with their own agendas that can threaten or aid the space journey. Delegates will have to work through tense political negotiations, technological costs and failures, and the all-consuming question determining the fate of humanity: who is worth saving?

 

Esteemed Delegates,

I am excited and honored to welcome you to the 74th iteration of Harvard Model United Nations! My name is Adam Brown, and I will be your Crisis Director for this stellar committee. I am a junior at Harvard concentrating in Social Studies with a citation in Arabic, pursuing a concurrent Master's degree in Middle Eastern Regional Studies. I'm originally from Saratoga Springs, New York (Upstate represent!).

I first became involved in Model UN by joining the Harvard Intercollegiate Model UN team in Fall 2024; I had no prior experience with MUN, and I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but I fell in love and haven't looked back since. In addition to my intercollegiate experience, I served as a Director at HMUN 2026, and have been an Assistant Director and Crisis Director for our sister collegiate conference, Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN). Model UN has also taken me all over the world: I first directed a committee at HMUN China 2025, and I returned to HMUN China 2026 as the Under-Secretary-General for Committees; and I proudly served as the Director-General for the first ever session of HMUN Canada this past May. Nowadays, I serve as the Chief Auditor for the Harvard International Relations Council, which is the parent organization of all things MUN at Harvard.

Crisis committees are my absolute favorite style of Model UN, and I hope that you will enjoy the chaos and unpredictability that comes along with this format just as much as I do. As your Crisis Director, I want to see you make the most of the resources at your disposal to sow the seeds of mayhem in committee; the more disruptive, the better. I encourage you to try to make your out-of-the-box ideas come to life; creativity with a firm anchor will work wonders in committee.

I wish you all the best of luck in your preparations for committee, and I look forward to seeing you all in January!

All my best,

Adam Brown

mars@harvardmun.org

Harvard Model United Nations 2027

 
 

Dear Delegates,

It is my absolute honor to be your director for Mars Colony during HMUN 2027! My name is Chau Nguyen, I am a current sophomore studying Government and Sociology at the college. I'm from Orange County, California, but I've lived nearly my entire life in Vietnam. I've been involved in Model United Nations since my sophomore year of high school, so this is truly a full circle moment for me. I remember being in your shoes, and whether you are a MUN veteran or just starting out, I hope you are excited to participate and be a part of this committee. Although I participated in many a conference during high school, this is the first time I will be directing one! This committee is one I've been wanting to direct for a long time now, and I cannot wait to see it come to life. I hope this opportunity will give you the space to think intuitively about the future, the boundaries of science, and the challenges and rewards of collaboration. We are not far off from a future where this committee may become reality, and I sincerely encourage you to look beyond the horizon and be creative with your approaches. I cannot wait to see you this winter, and I'm excited to see this committee take off!

Best,

Chau Nguyen

mars@harvardmun.org

Harvard Model United Nations 2027