Young European Security Conference

Why is this project important? 

At a time when international conflicts and security policy issues are becoming increasingly relevant, we want to provide young people with security policy knowledge and skills and give them a platform in the security policy discourse. We are convinced that young people too often do not play a role in this topic and therefore want to make their perspectives heard. We see skills development, networking and active participation as an important prerequisite for strengthening democracy and cohesion in Germany, Europe and beyond.

What happens at the conferences? 

The young participants register for a working group according to their interests and deal with a specific aspect of security policy in depth. In addition to geographical focal points, the focus is on topics such as technology, the environment, transatlantic relations, disinformation, democracy and resilience. These working groups are supervised by young trainers from the Foundation’s networks and students from the Hertie School. They also take part in workshops with experts from academia, politics and civil society. On this basis, they develop their own ideas, questions and demands on their respective topics.
The program is framed by various discussion formats and a festive closing event in Berlin’s Rotes Rathaus, where the participants present their results and discuss them with high-ranking experts.

Who can participate? 

Almost 200 young people aged 16 to 24 from all over Europe took part in the 2025 conference. The exact conditions of participation for the next conference are expected to be published with the call for proposals in fall 2025. Participation in the conference is free of charge and the conference language is English. No prior knowledge of the content is required. For participants who do not come from Berlin, we offer a lump sum for travel expenses and accommodation for the days of the conference.

What happens beyond the conferences? 

The conference will be accompanied by activities of the European Youth Parliament (EYP), whose national committees in Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal and Ukraine have already organized national events on the topic of security at the end of 2024. The topic of security will also play a central role in the EYP in 2025, particularly with regard to the international session in The Hague.

In addition, a Fellow of the Understanding Europe (UE) education network will develop a course and accompanying educational materials on security for schools across Europe in 2025. The materials will provide a practical introduction to European security issues and highlight different aspects of the topic. In fall 2025, the developed materials will be presented within the transnational network of Understanding Europe and then used in classrooms in twelve European countries. In addition, the material will be published online as an Open Educational Resource (OER) to make it accessible to a broad public.
The results of the first conference will be elaborated and made publicly available in a form to be determined. Both the work and survey results will be incorporated into the design of the next conference.