A prestigious start to the academic year! 

The official inauguration of the 2023/2024 academic year took place in Lublin on 1st October. It was organised for the first time ever by the universities affiliated to the Union of Lublin Universities ZUL, together with the Catholic University of Lublin.

The day began with Holy Mass in Lublin Cathedral, after which a procession of representatives of the academic community, led by the rectors of all the Universities, accompanied by vice-rectors, deans of faculties, members of senates and university councils, and invited guests made their way to the Lublin Philharmonic Hall for the official ceremony and further celebrations.

The first ‘European Summit of Youngsters Against Rumours’ 

A group of young people are coming together for the first ‘European Summit of Youngsters Against Rumours’. Some will have been involved in the project previously and others will have their first opportunity for self-reflection and discussion at the summit.

The summit is part of the NET-IDEA project (Network of European Towns for Inter-culturalism, Diversity, Equality and Anti-discrimination) which falls under the Intercultural Cities Program of the Council of Europe (ICEI), funded by the European Commission. The project involves a European partnership formed by the Spanish and Portuguese Network of Intercultural Cities, a Swedish NGO working on inter-culturalism and anti-discrimination, the city of Erlangen (Germany), and the city of Lublin (Poland), as well as 4 Italian cities – a total of 16 European cities from 6 countries.

The event has been organised by the city council and will take place from 6th – 8th October. Lublin is a natural choice to host such an event as it’s not only an official partner within the NET-IDEA project, but is also currently the European Youth Capital for 2023.

The summit will provide the opportunity for self-reflection and discussion on a number of important themes that have already been highlighted through the project, including ‘identity’ and a ‘sense of belonging’. The event aims to develop a set of tools with attendees to help them promote a culture of anti-rumours and anti-discrimination. It is also intended to help them become strong advocates for promoting new city narratives through an intercultural lens, with a view to establishing a manifesto and a network of European young people who stand against rumour and discrimination.

Lublin: European Youth Capital 2023 – reaches Space! 

Direction Earth/Space was an initiative of the European Space Agency combining science, culture, innovation, and entrepreneurship. It was organized in partnership with Lublin as part of the city’s European Youth Capital 2023 status, and to coincide with the Lublin Science Festival. A highlight of the initiative was a personal visit by special guest, Dr Sławosz Uznański who is a project astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA), and a Polish scientist who is about to become the second Pole in space!

The event took place at KUL (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin) where Dr Uznański  shared his story on becoming a European Space Agency project astronaut, and about his first weeks of training in preparation for his flight to the International Space Station. The meeting attracted a lot of young people looking for ‘cosmic’ inspiration, and there was an opportunity for behind-the-scenes conversations and photos.

This was accompanied by a multimedia outdoor projection and audio-visual celebration including the opportunity to admire satellite photos from the Copernicus Programme. The projection was made onto the façade of the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures in Lublin and was accompanied by an artistic musical interpretation by Karolina Panasiuk, with stream Auer music.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

The 19th Annual Lublin Science Festival 

“Science for the Future” was the catchphrase of Lublin Science Festival 2023. The 19th edition of the largest cyclical event promoting science was held between September 18-24th in Lublin. The main goal of the festival is to disseminate scientific ideas regardless of the age or level of education of the participants, to show them what science looks like “from behind the scenes.”

This year saw a record 1700 events for people to participate in, aimed not only at schoolchildren and students, but also designed to appeal to adults and the elderly.

The Lublin Science Festival dates back to 2004, when the then-rectors of five Lublin universities, i.e. the Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin University of Technology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, the Medical University, and the University of Life Sciences, and the director of the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences all signed a declaration to establish the annual festival. Over time it has become the largest popular science event in the Lublin region.

From September 18th to 22nd, all science fans young and old were able to take part in presentations and events organised at the Lublin universities, across the city and by the co-organizing institutions. It culminated on Saturday September 23rd with the Lublin Science Picnic, held at the Lublin Fairgrounds. The full programme of events can be found here: www.festiwal.lublin.pl .