Register Now: T4EU Strategic Policy Conference – Universities Shaping the Future through Innovation and Global Impact
Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) is pleased to invite you to register for the upcoming Strategic Policy Conference “Universities Shaping the Future: Building Resilient Societies through Innovation and Global Impact.” The conference will take place on October 21-22, 2025, at VMU in Kaunas, marking the conclusion of VMU’s presidency of the T4EU Alliance.
For almost a millennium, universities served as primary hubs for the advancement of intellectual thought and visionary leadership. Today, in the wake of escalating uncertainty and global crises, resilience has emerged as a vital societal asset and personal skill. Consequently, resilience has been chosen as the main axis of action during VMU’s presidency of the Transform4Europe (T4EU) Alliance in 2025, and will be the focal point of this conference. The European University initiative, currently uniting 65 alliances, was introduced to strengthen European higher education institutions and their role in boosting European identity, competitiveness, technological advancement, and overall societal resilience.
The main goal of the conference is to bring together not only academic leaders, experts, and students from the T4EU and other European University alliances, but also high-level European and Lithuanian political figures, global partners, and key stakeholders. Together, they will engage in discussions on resilience from multiple perspectives, including the global and European transformation of democracies, societies, and technologies. Drawing on the expertise and insights generated during the conference, a Policy Paper on Resilience Competency will be finalized and shared.
The conference will delve into a range of topics related to resilience, including Europe’s resilience in a shifting global order, the role of universities as stabilizing forces in democracies and conflict-affected societies, individual resilience in an unpredictable world, the importance of innovation and talent for Europe’s strategic future, and higher education’s contribution to societal renewal.
In the session dedicated to democracies under pressure, speakers will include Vygaudas Ušackas, Founder and CEO of V.U. Business Linking LTD, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, as well as former EU Ambassador to Afghanistan and Russia, and Dr. Anne Friederike Delouis, Vice-President for International Relations (Europe) at the University of Orléans, France. The session will be moderated by Victoria Vdovychenko, a Visiting Fellow within the British Academy and a co-lead of the Future of Ukraine Program at the Centre for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge.
Another session will focus on individual resilience and preparing minds for an unpredictable world. Participating in the roundtable discussion on this topic will be Patrícia Oliveira e Silva, Vice-Dean for Internationalization, Research and Social Responsibility at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of the Catholic University of Portugal, Prof. Dr. Tanja Michael, Chair and Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Saarland University in Germany, Irena Jankutė-Balkūnė, Chief HR and Culture Officer of Lithuanian Railways, and Lana Par, President of European Students’ Union.
Speakers in sessions on universities‘ global competitiveness and societal renewal will include Manuel Heitor, Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon and former Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, Zofia Sawicka, consultant at SIRIS, a higher education and international research consulting company, and former head of the National Agency for Academic Exchange in Poland, Darius Von Guttner Sporzynski, Canberra Campus Dean of the Australian Catholic University and Director of Academic Programs at the Rome Campus, and Irena Melua, the Vice President for Internationalization at Caucasus University.
