Record interest in European student conference

Interest in this summer’s EULiST student conference in Brno has broken previous records. Over 1,000 students have applied for the approximately 200 places – a figure that clearly demonstrates growing engagement within the European university network.

This year’s edition of the EULiST student conference will be held at Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic in June. This year, it attracted more applicants than ever before. A total of 1,044 students has applied to take part, with 96 applications coming from Jönköping University (JU) alone.

“The high level of interest this year is a sign that demand for international meeting places for students continues to grow,” says Camilla Wahlgren, local project coordinator for EULiST at Jönköping University.

EULiST is a collaboration between ten European universities, of which JU is one of the partners. The alliance aims to strengthen international cooperation, student exchange and joint knowledge development in technology and societal issues.

20 selected representatives

The student conference, the third in the series, will be held from 23 to 27 June under the theme “Technology Meets the Future” and will explore how digital development and human creativity can solve the challenges of the future. The selection process for participants was completed in early May, and it is now clear which 20 students from each university will be taking part. On Wednesday 6 May, JU’s selected participants met for a joint information session about EULiST and what awaits them in Brno this summer.

One of the excited students set to attend is Natalia Fonseca from Colombia. She is studying Sustainable Societies and Social Change at HLK and has high hopes for the conference.

“I’m very, very excited to meet people from all around Europe. I am very intrigued to know about the pitch and the workshops. So, I expect that I can meet a lot of people, do some networking, and open my mind a little more to these issues that bring us all together. It will be an experience, so let’s go for it,” she says.

An unique opportunity

Anna Maria Gavrilov from Italy is in her final year of the Sustainable Enterprise Development programme at JIBS. She attended last year’s student conference and had since been involved as an EULiST student ambassador at JU. She sees the conference as a unique opportunity to connect with people from different backgrounds who share common interests.

“I hope it will generate new ideas and meaningful collaborations, as well as inspire participants to actively contribute to positive change within the alliance and beyond,” she says.