We’re checking off the next stops on our VSS 2025 roadmap, and today, we’re excited to give you a first look at the structure of this year’s program! Thoughtfully designed to deliver value on multiple levels, 23rd VSS combines knowledge-building, skill development, cross-cultural exchange, and personal growth. Across 10 immersive days in Villa Decius (Krakow, PL), you’ll engage with key challenges and opportunities tied to The Future of Enlargement - through dialogue, creation, and shared experience.
Below, a preview of what the journey will look like:
Inspirational Lectures & Keynote Talks
You’ll hear from top diplomats, academics, policy experts, and thinkers shaping Europe’s future. Their sessions will dive into enlargement processes, Ukraine's candidacy, the Western Balkans, disinformation, populism, and other critical dimensions of regional transformation. These lectures are designed to spark big questions and set the stage for deeper conversations.
VSS Future Laboratory
You won’t just listen - you’ll create. Through workshops and a multi-day Future Literacy Lab, you’ll explore methods of strategic foresight, scenario building, and long-term thinking. These sessions will equip you with tools to reimagine enlargement processes and develop your own ideas with practical application.
Study Visits
We take learning beyond the classroom. You'll visit local institutions in Kraków and dive deeper into the region with a full-day trip to Małopolska, including a powerful visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. These experiences connect policy with place and history, encouraging participants to reflect on Europe's past while shaping its future.
Participant-Led Projects & Integration
Working in international teams, you’ll co-create a response to a challenge tied to the future of enlargement. Alongside that, informal mixers, cultural evenings, and city walks will offer the chance to build meaningful bonds, because shared experience is where the real magic happens.
Final Presentations
On the final day, you’ll present your team’s ideas in front of your peers and the VSS team. These closing presentations are more than a summary, they’re a chance to leave your mark and contribute to the collective vision of what comes next for Europe and its neighbors.
Stay tuned: in our next posts, we’ll introduce the expert lineup, share their bios, and highlight upcoming networking opportunities! Our team can’t wait to welcome you, guide the conversations, and connect you with people from across the region.
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