The twelfth year of the annual Czech-German Young Professionals Program (CGYPP) continued with the second seminar in Berlin, starting last Thursday (June 17, 2021). This time, unlike in Prague, Czech and German participants were able to meet in person and enjoy the seminar in European Academy Berlin. A total of 10 participants joined us on-site, enjoying a great program prepared by the German team, with many networking activities included! For part of the program, the rest of the participants joined us online and had the opportunity to debate with guests. At the first seminar, the program was marked by the main topic – Ways out of the crisis.

An introductory round and a lecture, and a discussion about the EU‘s performance in the COVID-crisis Robert Gampfer from the Delegation of the EU Commission in Germany opened the program on the first day of the seminar. Later on, we continued by Carlotta During hosting an online public debate with Kai-Olaf Lang from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik Berlin, a journalist Veronique Gantenberg from ARD, Europamagazin and Tomáš Sacher, the director of the Czech Centre Berlin and a president of EUNIC Berlin.

On the next day, the central theme of the day was COVID’s impact on society. We started with an overview with Prof. Dr Jan Paul Heisig on the topic “50 shades of COVID: How the pandemic has affected different groups of society differently (and what politics can do about it)”. In the second guest lecture, Moritz Kilger from Teach First Berlin-Brandenburg discussed how to shape more resilient and fairer educational systems, both in the Czech Republic and Germany. In the afternoon, problems of social care workers were presented in an online lecture held by Marion Leonhardt. For all parts of the program, more participants of the CGYPP joined us online. We finished the day with outdoor activity – a guided canoe tour on the river Spree!

On Saturday, we started the third day of the workshop by preventive testing of participants and team on COVID. The whole day was dedicated to culture in times of pandemic. Sebastian Ruff from Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin joined us in EAB in the first part of the day, discussing digital exhibitions. On how did German federalism coped with COVID, Dr Johanna Schnabel from FU Berlin held a lecture. After an internal workshop on culture and politics, we visited the Museum of German History, presenting a Documenta exhibition. A barbecue concluded another hot day of the seminar in Berlin!

The seminar was concluded by individual and group reflection on the previous program and podcast workshop, where participants exchanged their ideas and tips.

The program is initiated and financed by the Czech-German Fund for the Future.

Do not forget to check out pictures from the Berlin seminar: