YOUNG THINKERS

The future of Europe is you

In 2021, CEPS launched the Young Thinkers Initiative with the aim of including young and diverse voices in the European policy debate. The goal of the project is to give students and young professionals a platform to express their ideas and connect them with current policymakers and leaders.

CEPS Young Thinkers is part of a wider initiative, the CEPS Sustainable Diversity Goals , an Open Society Foundation-funded project that aims to promote diversity in the field of research.

Over to youth: a CEPS series

CEPS launched its “Young Thinkers Initiative” in May 2021 during its annual flagship conference, Ideas Lab. CEPS selected 30 brilliant young minds from over 20 different countries who engaged in a series of activities throughout the year. The project aims to provide students and young professionals with a platform to express fresh and innovative ideas.

CEPS organised a series of events throughout the year in order to continue engaging with the Young Thinker Class of 2021 and follow up on the concrete proposals that emerged at Ideas Lab 2021. These activities included a cycle of five webinars and conferences entitled “Over to Youth: a CEPS series”, focused on five different topics: climate change and sustainability, migration and human rights, hybrid threats to security, innovation, digitalisation and artificial intelligence, and democracy, citizenship, and rights.

This project was in part funded by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein and emanating from the roundtable discussions are those of the individuals participating in the Young Thinkers Initiative and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.