The University of Luxembourg Diplomacy Lab recently held its formal launch event on Tuesday, 25 April in the presence of Foreign Minister Asselborn, MEP Tilly Metz and several ambassadors to Luxembourg. Prior to this official event, the Diplomacy Lab has already been working with students for months to prepare them for their careers and to give them practical insights into how diplomacy works.
The University of Luxembourg Diplomacy Lab emerged from the merger of two student initiatives. After the pandemic, students from the Master in European Governance expressed the need to have shared activities outside of their classrooms. At the same time, students following HE Diego Brasioli’s course (Italian ambassador to Luxembourg) wanted to organise something around the theme of diplomacy. Professor Anna‐Lena Högenauer emphasised that the Diplomacy Lab is student centered. “It is officially directed by HE Diego Brasioli, but is really by and for the students, focusing on their professional development, and working together on the topics and skills that interest them”, she underlines.
Sana Hadžić-Babačić, an active student at the Diplomacy Lab explains how it “offers a unique learning experience, where students can gain a deeper understanding of complexities of international affairs, how international relations can impact their daily lives, their area of study, and potentially reinforce the two-way trust between youth and politics.”
Bram Koers, chair of the Lab’s student body and its Young Researcher Committee wishes to become a diplomat in the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs. For him this initiative is “the perfect fit for my ambitions. I am interested in international relations in both an academic and personal capacity, with the changes to the age-old craft due to rapid technological and geopolitical changes in the last few decades fascinating me especially.”
Keynote speaker at the launch event, the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, insisted on the future challenges that awaits the future diplomats. “Diplomacy is getting even more complex. Social Media and new technologies such as Chat GPT bring new challenges for the next generation”. He added “Students should interact with practitioners not only with books. The practical approach brought by initiatives such as the Diplomacy Lab are needed”. Following the students’ presentation of their first collective publication, Member of the European Parliament Tilly Metz praised them for showing that “diplomacy is more than just security policy, than governments negotiating with each other in closed off rooms” and that it concerns all of us.
The students are looking towards what comes next. Koers says that “It is our goal to make the Lab last, so that many future students have the opportunity to participate in the Lab. Transferring the knowledge to incoming students will allow them to build upon what we have done so far and make the University of Luxembourg Diplomacy Lab better and more interesting every year.” Jérôme Seibert, another committed student, concludes that “now we are still busy building a solid and sustainable structure and organisation to get power on the ground in the coming weeks and months. It is very important for all of us to lay a good foundation so that the project can continue. I am particularly impressed by the support of the University and especially the commitment of the wonderful Ambassador Brasioli, whose help is invaluable to us!”