Gen A – Young Leadership Program

Asia matters. In its mission to foster Asia Competence, Asia Society Switzerland is committed to empowering young voices in the dialogue with Asia, recognizing youth as a key driver of Switzerland’s future success in the region. We offer the Gen A (short for Generation Asia) program to young professionals and advanced students in Switzerland. The program aims to deepen their knowledge of Asia-related issues, provide them with the tools to interpret Asia’s development and identify opportunities for a successful collaboration with Asia. This year-long program enables the next generation to engage with Asia on eye level and builds a community of young Asia-curious people in Switzerland. 

Gen A is a learning and leadership development platform for advanced students and young professionals. Application to the program is open to anyone living in Switzerland under the age of 35 with no more than three years of relevant work experience. Gen A is designed to inform, inspire, and connect. Gen A fellows gain access to leading business, policy, trade, diversity, and cultural thinkers on Asia; join a network of peers who are passionate about Asia, and get the chance to lead projects and represent the network. 

Benefits of joining the Gen A – Young Leadership Program: 

• Direct access to high-level experts 
• In-depth insights on Asia that help understand what is happening today 
• A network of like-minded peers 
• The tools to critically analyze and assess future developments 
• Free access to Asia Society Switzerland events 
• A certificate confirming the fellows’ engagement to understand Asian issues (upon graduation) 
• Access to a growing network of successful Gen A alumni 
• Development of leadership skills and gaining hands-on experience in relevant fields, such as public speaking skills, critical thinking, and research, etc. 

Program Elements and Requirements 

• Expert roundtables catered exclusively to Gen A fellows 
• 1 half-day workshop 
• Active participation in Asia Society Switzerland programs on a regular basis (attendance of a minimum of four public or members-only events/webcasts is required, participation at  Executive Roundtables upon opportunity). Further, we expect our fellows to attend events in person whenever possible. 
• Graduation project: We give our fellows the chance to develop tangible projects they can use as proof of their abilities in their portfolios. Previous cohorts wrote papers and organized a Gen A Conference together. The 2022 cohort will present their final projects in engaging speeches at our flagship conference, STATE OF ASIA. 

Application Process: 

Applications for Gen A 2023 have closed on January 15, 2023. 

We publish our call for applications in December every year. If you want to make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook). 

Alumni Network 

In 2022, we launched our official Alumni Network to ensure continued access to this fantastic, steadily growing community of future leaders in Switzerland, Asia, and everywhere in-between. The network is open to all alumni and current fellows of Gen A. It is led by a yearly changing committee that organizes events and get-togethers throughout the year. Would you like to become part of the network, or the committee? Then contact us via switzerland@asiasociety.org.  

Support Gen A 

We offer Gen A free of charge and are constantly trying to improve our program to make it even more attractive for fellows and alumni alike. If you want to support our work, here are a few suggestions: 

• Are you professionally engaged with Asia? Become a Gen A expert! We are always looking for great speakers with interesting career paths and a passion to share their knowledge with our young leaders 
• Support us financially and sponsor a fellowship or an alumni event! 
• Other ideas on how to enhance the program? Please get in touch with us, we’d love to hear them!