The team presented a forum titled “Freedom of Thought in the Age of Algorithms: Examining the Impact of Artificial Intelligence Bias in the University Environment.”

The closing ceremony of the Third National Borhan Festival was held on September 20 at Shahid Beheshti University, attended by senior officials, university professors, and students. The festival brought together 63 teams from universities nationwide and aimed to promote dialogue, critical thinking, and problem-solving among university students.

Yazd University participated in the final stage with two teams: “Iranian Resilience” and “Eternal Iran.” The latter competed in the “War and Post-War Issues” category with a forum titled “A Critical Discourse Analysis of Eastern and Western Media Coverage of the 12-Day War.”

The two teams consisted of Ali Omidvar Abarghouei, Faezeh Goodarzi Taemeh, Fatemeh Hosseini Ardakani, Morteza Forouhideh, Mohaddeseh Saghafi, and Maryam Salahshouri, all master’s or PhD students in English Language Teaching and related fields.

Dr. Seyedeh Elham Elhambakhsh, a faculty member of Yazd University’s Department of English Language and Literature, served as the teams’ academic supervisor and advisor.

Several other students, including Amin Rezaei, Reza Sedighi, Mehran Hatampour, Javad Mohebi, Amirreza Shafiei, and Mohammad Amin Dehqan Baghi, also supported the teams during the preparation and qualifying stages.

The Yazd University teams participated throughout all three stages of the festival—from capacity-building programs and preliminary events to the final competition—engaging in academic dialogue and exchanging ideas with students from universities across the country.

The third-place achievement reflects the students’ continued participation in the festival and their engagement in problem identification, academic dialogue, and critical thinking.