October 28, 2024 – European Forum Alpbach General Assembly
On the 28th of October the European Forum Alpbach held an extraordinary GA to select the new President of EFA. With an overwhelming mayority the GA elected Othmar Karas as the new President.
Othmar Karas has been a member of the European Parliament for the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) since 1999. From 2022 until the recent European Elections in May he has been the First Vice-President of the European Parliament. Club Alpbach Netherlands wants to wish Othmar the best of luck in his new role and looks forward to a fruitful cooperation with him! We alsow would like to thank the previous President, Andreas Treichl, for his tremendous efforts to bring EFA to new hights.
The GA took place in Vienna, where CAN was represented by Vincent and Janneke.
October 23, 2024 – Fireside Chat: EU Enlargement and the Kosovo – Netherlands Relationship
On the 23rd of October Club Alpbach Netherlands and Club Alpbach Kosovo teamed up to organise a fireside chat with H.E. Dr. Dren Doli, Ambassador of Kosovo to the Netherlands. The discussion focused on EU enlargement, with particular attention to the Kosovo-Netherlands relationship. We also discussed future possibilities of collaborating.
October 16, 2024 – Informal Get Together:
The Board of Club Alpbach Netherlands, past scholarship holders and other members of the CAN community came together on the 16th of October in The Hague for an informal get together. We made use of the moment to launch are renewed membership programme, set up by our membership manager Marc. As always the conversations between the various participants ran till late!
August 29, 2024 – EFA24 Fireside Chat The Impact of AI and Quantum Computing on Global Challenges
Club Alpbach Netherlands had the honor of hosting a captivating fireside chat with none other than Fields medalist Cedric Villani. This year’s session was a free-form discussion focusing on the transformative impacts of AI and Quantum Computing on Global challenges.
Cedric shared his unique insights into how these groundbreaking technologies, rooted in mathematics, have the potential to reshape the future and address some of the world’s most pressing problems. From ethical considerations to the limitless possibilities of AI and Quantum Computing, it was an inspiring and thought-provoking conversation.
Big thanks to everyone who participated and contributed to this enrichting dialogue! We’re proud to have hosted another successful session with Cedric, and we’re already looking forward to more discussions like this.
August 28, 2024 – New CAN board selected
On one of the last days of EFA24 the representatives from the Netherlands came together to form the new board. Old board members Vincent, Guntars, Cecilia and Marc remained on the board and were joined by Jasper, Nora and Janneke. The role division between the new board members is as follows:
- Vincent Bloem: President & External Relations
- Guntars Upis: Vice-President, Fundraising, EFA programming & scholarships
- Jasper Hack: Secretary
- Nora Szabo-Jilek: Treasurer & Fundraising
- Janneke Boonstra: Fundraising
- Cecilia Liu: Public Relations & Communication
- Marc Kooij: Membership & Community
Unfortunately, Arne Steemers decided to step down from the board. Arne has been active for Club Alpbach Netherlands since 2022 and at various times acted as Vice-President, Treasurer, Fundraising Manager and Membership Manager. He was also the FAN track representative for the Climate Track. We’d like to thank him for his involvement with CAN and wish him the best of luck for the future!
August 28, 2024 – EFA24 Panel Climate Induced Migration: Elephant in Europe’s Room
The second big event organised by Club Alpbach Netherlands during EFA24 was a panel on the impact of climate change on migration, especially in relation to the Middle-East. The event was co-organised by Club Alpbach Iraq. Speakers included our very own Vincent Bloem (in his role as policy advisor on migration), Helena Hahn (Policy Analyst for the European Policy Center) and Banan Sakbani (Genc Program Support & Changemaker at Ashoka). The event was moderated by Diyya Abdulkader from Club Alpbach Iraq.
During the event we discussed what type of migrants are particularly vulnerable for climate change, the recent rise of anti-migrant settlement in Europe and how all of this impacts migrants on an individual and emotional level.
August 26, 2024 – EFA24 Fireside chat The World of Think Tanks
During the Europe in the World days, CAN had the pleasure to organise a fireside chat on the world of think tanks.
We brought together two professionals in this field: Dr. Tobias Gehrke, who is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Diederick van Wijk, a Research Fellow at the Clingendael Institute. The session was moderated by Guntars Upis, board member of CAN.
The interactive discussions with a group of young and ambitious scholarship holders revolved around the ins and outs of working at a think tank. We touched upon the different types of think tanks in Europe, their work and what it takes to work for one.
August 25, 2024 – EFA24 Panel Reinventing Economics: How to make it more useful?
The session ‘Reinventing Economics: How to make it more useful’? at EFA24 brought together an expert panel to critically reflect on the state of economics and how economists interact with policymakers, business leaders and civil society.
The session was moderated by Guntars Upis, board member of CAN, and the participants included:
- Professor Maria Demertzis, a senior fellow at Bruegel and part-time Professor of Economic Policy at the European University Institute in Florence.
- Dr. Antonella Mei-Pochtler, an experience senior executive, investor advisor and supervisory board member, including in roles as member of the Global Executive Committee of Boston Consulting Group, Head of Strategy for the Federal Chancellor of Austria and Vice President of EFA.
- Professor Moritz Schularick is the President of the Kiel Institute of the World Economy, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po and a Fellow of the DFG-Excellence Cluster ECONtribute.
August 24, 2024 – EFA24 International Bazar
A yearly tradition at EFA is the International Bazar, where clubs share food from their cultures. We had a great time sharing our beschuit met muisjes, drop, hagelslag and more. It was an incredible experience learning about so many diverse cultures and traditions.
August 22, 2024 – EFA24 Game Night
In collaboration with Club Alpbach Iraq, Club Alpbach Netherlands organised a fun game night where scholarship holders shared stories about traditional games from their cultures.
August 20, 2024 – EFA24 OnlyFANS Dinner
On the 20th of August representatives from all the Clubs in the Forum Alpbach Network (which explains the titel of the event), came together for the yearly “OnlyFANS Dinner”. This networking event is both meant as a celebration of the hard work all volunteers put in each year to make EFA a success, as well as an opportunity to set up new collaborations.
Our President Vincent Bloem was present representing CAN.
August 15, 2024 – Pre-Alpbach Scholarship and Curated Participants meetup
Today we had the pleasure of welcoming this year’s scholarship holders and curated participants from the Netherlands to our CAN community. These bright and motivated individuals are all set to participate in the European Forum Alpbach. We are incredibly proud of their achievements and wish them an inspiring and transformative experience at Alpbach.
April 21, 2024 – FAN Spring Conference
The FAN Spring Conference took place in beautiful Budva, Montenegro this year. Amidst the vibrant exchange of ideas, it was a joy to reconnect with the other clubs within the Forum Alpbach Netwerk, especially our sister club – Club Alpbach Upper Austria.
A heartfelt shoutout to our host – Club Alpbach Montenegro – for a memorable conference!
