National Student Scientific Conference “The Voice of Youth

Details

The final event of the project - National Student Scientific Conference “The Voice of Youth - Energy for Europe” - gathered in the Aula of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski” students and young researchers in European Studies, who have contributed to the implementation of the project as well as students’ teams from secondary schools with their mentors, awarded within the National Competition “Europe is my home – let’s keep it clean and green”. The students from the „ Antoine de Saint Exupéry” class were hosting the event. The forum was attended by more than 120 participants. It enriched the exchange of ideas and experience, critical thinking, ability to debate about EU and its future among young people. It gave a great opportunity for students to practice presenting their research to a group of peers and an added value to the opening of the University to secondary education.

The Conference started with opening remarks by the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy prof. Sonya Karabeliova, Dr. Klaus Fiesinger - Director of Hanns Seidel Foundation for South-East Europe, Teodor Stoychev – Head of the Office of the European Parliament in Bulgaria, Associate Professor Kaloyan Simeonov – Head of the Department of European Studies at Sofia University “St.Kliment Ohridski” and Professor Ingrid Shikova – academic coordinator of the project.

During the session “The young voices from Academia” - The first panel THE EUROPEAN UNION - AN AREA OF VALUES, SECURITY AND SOLIDARITY” was focused on important topics like: the family of the European nations, disinformation and populism as a threat to democratic processes in EU countries, the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the EU and their causes, strategic autonomy in the defense policy of the European Union, the integration of third-country nationals in the European space, the different approaches to the post-socialist transition and the (un) achievable goal of European integration.

The research papers presented during the second panel „DIGITALISATION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE” discussed mainly the digital Single Market, the smart cities in the European Union, the artificial Intelligence in the EU healthcare.

During the third panel “ECOLOGY, CLIMATE AND HEALTH” the students presented their views on the European Union's path to sustainable and ecological transport, the Green Deal and the energy sector in Bulgaria, the closer cooperation in the field of healthcare between the EU Member States, the link between the attitude towards national institutions and the citizens ‘attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union.

During the session “The voices from secondary schools and European clubs” the students’ teams from secondary schools, awarded within the National Competition “Europe is my home – let’s keep it clean and green” presented their ideas, projects and opinions on contribution of the young people to the EU priorities.

During the sessions “We debate together” and “How young people can energize the European union?” there were lively discussions, during which the audience had the chance to ask interesting questions and to share opinions on different European topics. There was a game, prepared by the University students with questions and answers about the EU.

During the final plenary session, a summary and results of the discussions as well as the project results were presented.

Results

The involvement of European studies students contributed to developing their practical and pedagogical skills. It streamlined the joint efforts to promote the European values and the active citizenship of young generation. The conference contributed to a new dimension of opening the University to the secondary schools. The results of the impact of the project were demonstrated in practice.