Summer Universities explore resilience and cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region

Three CBSS-supported Summer Universities held in Denmark and Poland this summer gave students and young professionals from across the Baltic Sea Region and Ukraine an opportunity to examine regional challenges ranging from security and minority rights to spatial planning and climate change.

The three programmes approached the region’s development from different perspectives, while sharing a focus on resilience and the role of younger generations in addressing common challenges.

• CBSS Summer University 2026: Youth, Resilience and the Future of the Baltic Sea Region – Gdańsk, Poland, 12–19 July. The programme brought together 21 students for a week of lectures, workshops, study visits and foresight exercises. Participants examined youth participation, regional cooperation and different dimensions of security and resilience, including maritime and military security, critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, disinformation, migration and environmental risks. Working with scenarios for the future of the Baltic Sea Region, they developed proposals on issues including energy security, crisis communication, regional identity and infrastructure protection.

• CBSS Summer University “Minorities and Societal Resilience around the Baltic” – Knivsberg, Denmark, 2–8 August. Participants examined minority identities and rights, relations between minorities and kin-states, cross-border cooperation and reconciliation, as well as links between minorities, security and societal resilience. Alongside lectures and study visits, participants worked in international groups to produce podcasts on minority-related issues. A podcast on the Polish minority in Lithuania received first place in the programme’s Best Podcast category.

• VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026 “Navigate Planning Through Changes” – Gdańsk, Poland, 23–29 August. Thirty young professionals and students from the Baltic Sea Region and Ukraine worked on emerging challenges in spatial planning. In international and interdisciplinary teams, participants developed concepts addressing preparedness and resilience, climate change, connections between people and places, and the effective use of space. Expert presentations, mentoring and study visits supported their work on practical approaches to spatial planning in the region.