The EUTOPIA “Ideas Club”, a student-led debate program to raiseawareness of European values through knowledge and awareness about intercultural differences, transcending local and regional and national identity-pegs, with the objective of developing and training European identity and inclusive citizenship competence and skills through knowledge about values, human rights, models of representation and participation, took place in Venice, between 23-24 April 2024.

The second edition of the Ideas Club, organised in cooperation with the EUSTT (Eutopia Students Think Tank), will delve around a core concern of our Century: “Climate Change Challenges”

Josh Smith, PhD Fellow, School of Engineering

For Warwick’s role in EUTOPIA, the university supported a fellow student, Iman, and I, to spend a couple days in Venice for the Eutopia Student Think Tank (EUSTT) “Ideas Club” on the topic of climate change. During the trip we were able to explore freely as tourists when not in a timetabled event, we spent half a day at the stunning Ca' Foscari University, first sharing our ideas and thoughts on climate change, having a great lunch, then hearing a talk hosted by a local activist from Venice Calls, before walking through the heart of Venice to visit the Biennale Library; finishing by meeting the next day to reflect on our findings. The experience was a great opportunity, allowing myself to meet fellow students from all across Europe with different backgrounds, who gave great, insightful discussions around the topic of climate change. It was brilliant to be able to see the beautiful city of Venice with my European peers, having the free time to explore and enjoy the city together, whilst also offering a strong reminder of the topic we convened for. The event provided me with further knowledge on how climate change should be dealt with which will offer me greater depth for post-graduation work in the field of sustainability; at the same time, the trip improved my cross-cultural communication and debating skills, a strong asset for future endeavours. The trip has also provided me with an expanded lifetime network. Overall, the Ideas Club in Venice was a fantastic experience and I encourage all students to take part in the next EUTOPIA opportunity that comes their way!