Petr Pesov, a student at the International B.A. in Liberal Arts program and founder of the Youth Innovation Forum, Petr has found Tel Aviv to be full of surprises.
Where are you from?
I was born in Russia and then moved to Latvia during high school.
What are you studying at TAU?
Currently I’m a third-year International B.A. in Liberal Arts student, majoring in Psychology. I’m also interning in the Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges.
Did anything about studying at TAU surprise you?
Israel is really not what it seems, from what you initially hear from people and how they describe it. Especially when it comes to Tel Aviv, which is perhaps one of the most progressive and flourishing places I’ve ever been.
What’s been your favorite class at TAU?
I really enjoyed one of the classes in my first year: Post-Truth, Post-Politics and another class last year – Business Ethics, which were both philosophy classes, but with a real-life application of the philosophy of information flow and the ethical implications of corporations and different schools of ethics.
What do you do when you’re not studying?
I’m the co-founder of a new student-initiative project on campus: the Youth Innovation Forum. YIF encourages the exchange ideas in a variety of academic disciplines in our weekly meetings. We host presentations on various topics (given by experts) to complement the degrees of students who are part of the Forum, and broaden our horizons. We also share various projects with our students and encourage them to start their own, for example we are currently forming a group of students working on an AI household farming project.
What was the first word you learned in Hebrew?
I believe it was “slicha”, which means “sorry” and always comes in handy when you want to pass someone or something in the wonderful and busy streets of Tel Aviv, or when you want to grab someone’s attention.
What’s next for you?
After I finish my BA I’m hoping to do my MA in Conflict Resolution, move to Israel and pursue my PhD, with aspirations towards a mix between an academic and a practical career in the field of Public Policy.