“Together for a secure Europe”. This was the motto of the Central and Eastern European Security Forum held at the University of Warsaw. On 16th and 17th June, European and American experts in geopolitics, the economy or cyber security debated on the university’s Main Campus. The forum was opened by Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, the UW Rector, and Robert Grey, the UW Chancellor.

The two-day conference, organised by the Institute for Eastern Studies in conjunction with the Ministry of National Defence and the University of Warsaw, was attended by more than 500 representatives of governments, international organisations, academia and the private sector from Europe and the US.

The conference was opened by Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, the UW Rector, and Robert Grey, the UW Chancellor.

“I am glad that the University of Warsaw is a place of dialogue. We need to talk and use knowledge and skills not only from the UW, but also from other Polish universities. I believe that we will really be able to offer a lot – in artificial intelligence, modern technology, medicine and healthcare. I am convinced that the discussion we are having will ensure that scientific research will also have a beneficial effect on the arms industry and, consequently, on the armaments of the Polish army and the security of the Republic of Poland,” Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, the UW Rector, said opening the Forum.

“The security of Central and Eastern Europe is one of the most important challenges today. We are glad that the University of Warsaw has become a space for dialogue between experts, representatives of government, business and academia. By working together across divides, we can build a lasting architecture for security, peace and stability in our region,” Robert Grey, the UW Chancellor, said at the opening of the event.

The forum took place on 16th and 17th June in the Old Library on the UW’s Main Campus. The conference programme was divided into three thematic tracks: war and society; new technologies and supply chains; geopolitics and economy. The event was held under the patronage of Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, and Piotr Zgorzelski, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm.

“In the face of complex challenges, we must seek answers to fundamental questions together: how to strengthen the resilience of our states and societies, how to build sustainable military, economic, technological and information security systems, and how to interact across sectoral and national borders,” the UW Chancellor emphasised.

Building social resilience

The second day of the forum featured a number of panel discussions on various aspects of security –military, energy, economic and cyber security, as well as social resilience.

The panel “How to involve science centres in building social resilience?” was chaired by Robert Grey, the UW Chancellor. Participants discussed how science centres can be not only a place for the dissemination of knowledge, but also a catalyst for social resilience – understood as the ability to adapt, rebuild and sustain community wellbeing.

The debate featured Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, Rector of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Dr Marek Kohv from the International Centre for Defence and Security (Estonia), Prof. Šarūnas Liekis from Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) and Dr Yaroslav Zhalilo from the National Institute for Strategic Studies (Ukraine).

“The survival of structures is fundamentally not just about maintaining them. It is also about building communities that learn and adapt, even in difficult and challenging circumstances. I thank all participants for their important contributions to this discussion,” the UW Chancellor said concluding the meeting.