The IPS Alumni Colloquium took place from November 29th to December 2nd 2023 in Berlin. Three Canadian and two US American representatives were able to attend this in person event alongside alumni from over 30 other countries. Board members were nominated to participate and travel was financed by the Bundestag. Clover, our treasurer and Sarah, our Canadian delegate, were honored to attend this past year.
It was also the first year that alumni from Argentina, Bahrain, Colombia, Chile, Indonesia, Iraq, New Zealand, Malaysia, Mongolia, Namibia and South Africa participated in the Colloquium. In recent years the Bundestag has expanded the program to welcome numerous new countries, and in Spring 2023, the Bundestag held its Sub-Saharan Africa program for the first time.
It has been several years since the Bundestag/WI4 was able to hold an in-person event due to the pandemic and the format has changed. In past years the Alumni conference took place during the IPS program and alumni were invited to attend the Ländertisch Abend. This year’s event took place outside of the IPS program due to constraints within WI4 for organization capacity. It included speakers from two of the Berlin Universities on topics such as peace negotiations, political polarization and social media’s role in fake news.
The second focus of the Colloquium was an information exchange between the alumni organizations as well as updates from several groups about recent past regional conferences and upcoming conferences. Matthew Delmastro, the current secretary for NABN, held a great presentation about this past year’s TAC (Transatlantic Alumni Conference) conference that was held in Erfurt in June. He received many questions about the funding, topics, location and language that showed how much interest there is among other groups to also hold regional conferences.
As part of the same topic, the Slovakian, Ukrainian, Tunisian and Colombian groups presented plans for upcoming regional conferences. The NABN will likely receive invitations for the Slovakian, Ukrainian and Colombian regional conferences and a virtual option for the Tunisian organized conference.
Overall, the Colloquium was encouraging and refreshing!
Next Colloquium: June 2025!
The Bundestag has announced the next colloquium will take place from June 26-29. Applications can be submitted here by January 25: https://forms.gle/27ScfeX59UJxuu1P6
More information on the topic is also included in the form linked above.
North American Bundestag Network 