On Thursday 5 November, the Academy took part in the NRW Science Dialogue Day at RWTH Aachen University, this time under the theme ‘Strengthening Leadership Programmes and their Networks in NRW’. This forum for exchange and dialogue was organised by the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) in collaboration with the Charlemagne Prize Foundation. The aim of the event was to strengthen cooperation between various leadership academies and continuing education programmes in North Rhine-Westphalia that focus on sustainable development and international cooperation.

The focus was on finalising a joint position paper, as well as analysing and linking the alumni networks of the participating programmes in order to identify synergies and concrete opportunities for cooperation. Through this, the participating institutions hope to strengthen the programmes’ shared identity and public visibility. A particular highlight was participation in a public panel as part of the concurrently held ‘A European Summit: Freedom of Research’, where the importance of leadership programmes and their alumni networks for democracy and international scientific cooperation was discussed.

Manuel Becker represented the Academy of International Affairs NRW as a panellist at this event. Overall, the event made a significant contribution to bringing together the initiatives in North Rhine-Westphalia – which had previously operated, in some cases, independently of one another – into a more closely networked and collaborative ecosystem for transformative leadership development.