Bettering South Australia for Young People: An Interview with Alex Brunh

“It wasn’t really about being inspired. I was actually really angry growing up. The world is a horrid place if you look hard enough. I was studying sociology and anthropology for a while and once you go down that path, you start to unpack the grim things that are happening, undeniably, in the world. From childhood, I could see that life wasn’t fair - and I've always been mad about it; the lack of justice in the world and the fact that some people didn’t care or couldn’t see it. I started getting involved because I thought if people aren’t going to do something, I'm going to find a means to do it myself. I've always been a bit headstrong which has worked to my benefit but also to my detriment.

Adversity is your biggest friend, it has been the biggest key to my success. If I hadn't experienced certain things, I wouldn’t be looking at what I’m looking at now. I wouldn't be able to see the world through the lens that I see it through and there’s no way in hell I would be doing what I'm doing now.”

“Through Global Shapers, I was part of a national youth consultation in 2020-2021. It was the first time our hubs had ever done a cross-hub collaboration nationally. 30 of us were working on it, and the idea was to consult 10000 young people nationally and consolidate their voices into a report with recommendations, called the Awareness to Action Report. [The report found that] climate change was a main concern, then housing affordability and a number of other things.

[The responders] were also questioned on whose responsibility they thought it was to sort out these things and how much faith they had that these bodies would address these issues. The most interesting data set that’s in there is that the majority of people thought it was the government's responsibility to change these things, but their trust and faith in the government to do these things was the most dismal, it was so so low. I worry about the unborn generation and what we are leaving them. How are you supposed to improve quality of life when the cost of living is going up, and wages, salaries, and opportunities are not quite evolving enough to meet that?”

It's really easy for people our age to be discouraged and feel despair looking at the state of the world right now. Do you have any advice for young people trying to find their way?

“Stay angry. I run this program out of You Think called Ideas to Unf*ck the World. There’s a global movement called Unf*ck the World Day which started in LA, so it's sprung from that. It's about young people not having to try and be happy about everything, and so it's an ideas incubator to weaponize their own story and tap into what we call their ‘divine rage’. My advice would be to tap into that divine rage and unleash it in a way that will make the world better.”

“I was awarded Young Citizen of the Year in 2022 for the City of Adelaide, which was delayed due to covid, and in 2023 I received the state wide commendation for Young Citizen of the Year. I kind of went into this year with no massive plans and then out of the blue got those and thought, you know what, I can do things!

I’m working on research to do with the Metaverse at the moment. I’ve just started my Masters of Innovation and Education and that research looks at how we do Metaverse based learning in South Australia as well as fourth industrial revolution learning, to get young people more involved in tech so they can have an avenue with a skill set that is going to last them. That way, they aren’t going to lose jobs and become redundant because our education system hasn’t done them justice.

After I came back from the World Economic Forum, they announced that they are building a metaverse of their own, with about 30 stakeholders, including the biggest players in the game: Meta, Microsoft, Lego. They’re building this incredible realm that I have no doubt will run in parallel to the real world. These stakeholders are going to govern it, and so how do I make sure that we (SA) aren’t going to be left behind? There’s no reason why South Australia can't be the leaders of innovation and education in the country. I'm quite confident we have the talent here, as long as we can retain it and stop people leaving, that is where I want to push and drive us.

There is so much red tape around what you can do in the conventional education system, our educators, are trying to innovate and do the best that they can, but are sort of bound by the system. There needs to be some bigger systemic change in order to allow these educators to be at their best and get the best from their learners.”

“That’s a really hard one. I kind of fell into it [this work] by accident. I was so disillusioned by schooling when I left that I never thought I would go back into it and work in it. It all started from volunteer work. A lot of what I do is actually unpaid income support because I believe in it.

Reach out, start some volunteer work. Find something that you’re passionate about that drives you. Go and do things that set your soul on fire.”