BAES student Gergely Hunor Németh describes visiting Strasbourg as a delegate at the 11th World Forum for Democracy at the Council of Europe.

Hello everyone
My name is Gergely Hunor Németh and I am a first year student and student representative at the Jagiellonian University in the joint BAES program. Very recently I was lucky enough to attend the 11th World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg at the Council of Europe. 
This Forum is gathering the most ambitious activists and political-decision makers to debate key challenges for democracies worldwide. I really like this unique platform because it collects the most ambitious democracy innovations and gives space for discussions on the evolution of our democracies. I also think that this event is extremely important because it gives voice for so many people otherwise unheard and raises awareness for so many issues outside of our democracies.
I have met, talked and listened to the stories of so incredibly ambitious, passionate and smart people from Palestine, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraqi-Kurdistan, Yezidies, South-Sudan, people with whom I otherwise wouldn’t have met. I was reminded how much more is out there to discuss and that we can never have enough of perspectives and the different inputs just amazed me so much. It is an incredible place for networking exactly because of the Conference’s attitude towards bringing all corners of the world together.
I was super happy to take part as a Youth Delegate from UJ and from our programme because the topics and issues discussed here were extremely connected to what we study at the university and therefor conference was a perfect complement. 
If it comes to contemporary challenges some of the ideas that most caught my attention were for instance the critiques towards currently existing international organisations and their dysfunctionality, the possibility for a 4th branch of government and a more participatory democracy, this year’s topic whether peace equals democracy and vice versa, whether we represent a long-term future oriented narrative enough or we are fine with single-useable ideas and perspectives and so many more. Provoking thoughts that widened my horizons and inspired me for further thinking, researching and debating that I could also share with my cohorts.
I am very grateful for the enthusiastic contribution of the university because I really think that such opportunities give us students a lot and if we can we should take advantage of such opportunities. I came back from Strasbourg inspired, motivated and challenged for my studies ahead and that is thanks to the university’s vision of experience-based learning and giving me a chance to learn in real depth, in real life what interests me the most.