The CIVICS at the European Forum Alpbach 2022
Every year, international stakeholders from science, politics, business and culture, as well as hundreds of young scholarship holders from Europe and beyond meet at the European Forum Alpbach in the Austrian Alps.
This year, the Forum took place from 21st August to September 2nd under the headline NEW EUROPE. This year’s forum has been designed around four thematic tracks – Securing Europe’s future in a Globalised World, Financing Europe’s Future, Climate Opportunity, Future of Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe.
Dr. Caroline Hornstein Tomić, in her function as member of the European Forum Alpbach Foundation Board, assumed a variety of tasks at the Forum, acting as speaker, moderator, facilitator, and host. Dr. Hornstein Tomić hosted and moderated the panel “Integration in the Face of the Ukraine Crisis: Ways to Move Forward” co-organized with the Austrian Integration Fund. The panel explored Austria’s integration policy and lessons learned from previous years. Speakers at the panel were Bogdana Schnabl, The Austrian Integration Fund, Dr. Susanne Raab, Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media, the migration experts Prof. Dr. Gudrun Biffl, Danube University Krems, and Dr. Thomas Liebig, International Migration Division at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Dr. Hornstein Tomić also participated as a speaker in a panel discussion about “Diversity from an intersectional perspective”.
Louisa Slavkova, Co-founder and Managing partner in THE CIVICS, has together with Dr. Hornstein Tomić participated in expert retreats where international experts work in small, individual groups on the most pressing issues of our time. Louisa Slavkova and Dr. Caroline Hornstein Tomić jointly participated in the “Building a European Civics Space” retreat. In addition, Louisa Slavkova has joined “Reimagine Politics in Europe”, while Dr. Hornstein Tomić took part in the retreat “The EU Must Think Big Again – Boosting European Security, Designing Strategies for the Balkans”.
Another THE CIVICS team member was a part of the Forum. Maja Kurilić, project manager in THE CIVICS and a member of Club Alpbach Croatia, has together with Wojciech Przybylski from Visegrad Insight led a week-long seminar on the EU and enlargement process using strategic foresight methods. Alpbach has once again proven to be a place of inspiration set in a picturesque environment.