Bachelor of Medicine student Laura Dryburgh will be attending the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Annual Forum in Paris during OECD Week from 28 - 29 May.

The 21 year-old joins five other young Australians who will make up the Global Voices OECD Australian Youth Delegation. Laura was selected for the fully sponsored opportunity by being an active member of the University of Newcastle's International Leadership, Experience and Development Program (iLEAD). Hundreds of young people applied for the delegation.

Having transferred to Medicine from Economics, Laura has a fitting skill-set. She is submitting a paper to present at the Forum on inequalities in primary health care distribution between metropolitan and rural areas, critiquing how the National Broadband Network could relieve these. The paper is related to the Forum's agenda and forms part of a Research Fellowship with Global Voices, who will publish it.

"Attending this forum will allow me to put my skills and knowledge of economics and development into practice," Laura said.

Laura recently returned from preparatory activities in Canberra where the students met with leaders and organisations such as the Governor General Quentin Bryce, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Minister for Trade Craig Emerson, the French Embassy, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The OECD is an international organisation comprising 34 countries with the aim of improving the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Its Annual Forum brings together a large range of stakeholders to discuss the most pressing issues on the international agenda. Notable speakers who have addressed the OECD Forum in the past include former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan.

Global Voices is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to create opportunities for young Australians to engage with international policy both at home and abroad.