We are excited to present a conference on Black Sea Security, in close collaboration with the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Danish Parliament, Mr. Michael Aastrup Jensen, and the Georgian Embassy in Denmark – exclusively through CSCD’s Ambassadors Lounge.

The conference will bring together prominent Members of parliament, as well as distinguished Ambassadors, Diplomats, Defence-attachés, Government and Civil Society Representatives, Business Representatives, and Experts to allow for a frank exchange of views on the challenges and opportunities in the Black Sea Region and their implications for various aspects of broader European security.

Venue & Date

The Danish Parliament (Folketinget-Fællessalen)
January 12th, 2023 | 09.00-14.00
For full program, registration, and further info: [Click here]

Speakers & Format

We have invited a broad range of speakers to discuss and share their vast knowledge through a series of talks followed by panel discussions. We are honoured to welcome:

• MP Mr. Michael Aastrup Jensen, Chairman of the Danish Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee, with a keynote speech.
• Distinguished Ambassadors to Denmark from the Black Sea countries of Bulgaria, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Romania with an exclusive ambassadorial panel discussion.
• We are further honoured to expand the ambassadorial panel with the Ambassador of Poland to Denmark, due to Poland’s significant role in the Three Sea Initiative, and the Ambassador of the USA to Denmark, as key strategic partners.
• Prominent representatives of the respective countries.
• Heads of International Organizations – WHO Regional Office Europe, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, BSEC.
• As well as prominent representatives from Danish Business community and institutions, to give expert talks.
• All will be supplemented by a research angle from leading Experts and Advisors and our renowned moderator, Ms. Charlotte Flindt Pedersen, Executive Director of the Foreign Policy Society.

The talks will be under the Chatham House Rule, followed by a Q&A session and networking with refreshments.

Security in the Black Sea Region and Implications for Europe: What has Changed?

Russia’s ongoing full-scale military aggression against Ukraine has dramatically changed security environments in the wider Black Sea Region and has sharpened attention on global security challenges. Consequently, the Black Sea Region has moved into the center of European and international focus as the ongoing war in the region threatens not only European security architecture but creates serious political and economic implications for the stability of the entire World.  The conference offers a unique opportunity to discuss and gain insights on political temperatures going forward in the quest for peace and stability. 
 
We look forward to welcoming you at the conference with exclusive food for thoughts and refreshments to boost your hunger and quench your thirst for knowledge

Registration

For registration please click here: [Register for the conference]

After intense preparations, our newest initiative, CSCD Youth Academy, was launched this spring. The first 23 candidates were accepted, and we are humbled that so many talented and bright top students from Danish universities wished to participate in the first, unique semester of the CSCD Youth Academy.

We are currently preparing to welcome new bright and promising students, and the application window for the upcoming semester is open. The preparations for the new program are in close collaboration with the involved embassies (See more on the upcoming semester below).

The CSCD Youth Academy was made possible with immense and highly valued support from the involved ambassadors and embassies, who generously and warmheartedly opened their doors for our top students. They were greeted by Their Excellencies the Ambassadors, who showed them the inside world of diplomacy, firsthand.

We are deeply grateful for the warm reception, and our students have reported back that not only did they gain highly valued new knowledge, but they also had an experience that made a lasting impression and will stay with them on their path to their promising careers as the future Danish Diplomats, Policy Makers, and Stake Holders of Denmark.

Here follows some highlights from the embassy visits from the recently finished CSCD Youth Academy Spring Semester of 2022.

Visit to the Embassy of Croatia

Her Excellency Ms. Tina Krce, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Denmark, most kindly hosted this CSCD Youth Academy Event.

Visit to the embassy of Argentina

His Excellency Mr. Conrado Solari Yrigoyen, Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina to Denmark, most kindly hosted this CSCD Youth Academy Event.

Visit to the Embassy of China

His Excellency Mr. Feng Tie, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Denmark, most kindly hosted this CSCD Youth Academy Event.

Visit to the Embassy of Serbia

Her Excellency Ms. Jasmina Mitrovic Maric, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Denmark, most kindly hosted this CSCD Youth Academy Event.

Visit to the Embassy of Slovenia

His Excellency Mr. Edvin Skrt, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Denmark, most kindly hosted this CSCD Youth Academy Event.

Graduation Ceremony

By the end of the successful Conference on Cyber Security, we had a graduation ceremony for the CSCD Youth Academy students, that received their certificates of completion on this day.  

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We continue the successful collaboration with the student organisations ID (the biggest student association at @University of Copenhagen) and POLIS (Political students’ organisation @Aalborg University) and have further expanded with two more student organisations: IBP (International Business and Politics @CBS) and ELSA (The European Law Students’ Association @Copenhagen). We are excited to continue the fruitful and valuable work with all four highly engaged and agenda-setting student organisations.

For the upcoming fall semester, we have made arrangements with several ambassadors, and we are humbled, deeply grateful, and most excited that they have so generously agreed to open their doors for our talented students from Danish universities. We will be visiting 6 embassies and are looking very much forward to initiating the program for this semester.  

The application window is now open – application deadline is August 12^th

Click here to read more about the CSCD Youth Academy

Click here for the Application Form

On June 24^th, CSCD’s Ambassadors Lounge hosted a Conference on Cyber Security, made possible in collaboration with the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Danish Parliament, MP Mr. Martin Lidegaard, and the Israeli Embassy and His Excellency Mr. David Akov.

The conference focussed on Israeli cyber capabilities and the Danish lessons that can be learnt from it.

It was a pleasure to be back with a physical conference and it was an honour to welcome our participating guests, prominent speakers, and excellencies – we have been looking forward to this day for a long time!

The conference subject, Cyber Security, is a topic in rapid development around the globe and with the current challenges worldwide, focus on cyber security and cyber infrastructure has never been more demanding or more vital.

Three leading Israeli cyber experts were brought to Denmark: Mr. Ram Levi (one of the architects of the cyber array in the Israeli PMO), Brig. General Ms. Sharon Nir (former Israeli military Head of Cyber and Communications School), and Mr. Shmulik Rotshas who represented Cyberstar (the first company to offer maritime cyber protection services). They shared their insights as to why Israel has become a global powerhouse and leading country in the field of cyber – relying on its strength in both security and technology.

We learned that 40% of all private cyber investments in the World are invested – in absolute numbers – in Israeli companies and that a third of the World’s unicorn cyber companies – private start-ups worth at least $1 billion – are Israeli. Today, cyber accounts for 15% of Israeli high-tech exports, which is about half of the total exports of the State of Israel and is still growing.

Our prominent Israeli guests were joined by Danish top experts: CEO & Founder of the Praesidio Group, Ms. Susanne Skov Diemer, Market Director in the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Anders Thomsen, Rear Admiral (retired) Mr. Torben Ørting Jørgensen, and Partner at Deloitte and Head of Detect and Response – Cyber Risk Advisory Denmark, Mr. Martin Wang Nexø, who each shared their unique perspectives from their vast experience and heightened the panel discussions even further.

The panellists touched upon crucial aspects of cyber security relevant in Denmark specifically, namely the eco-system and governmental role in establishing viable cyber protection, especially in the private sector against which 95% of cyber attacks are directed, and they discussed general cyber awareness in society and cyber training in the military and academia, and the need of a strong political prioritization of the issue, with examples of maritime cyber-attacks and lessons deduced after the Maersk attach in 2017.

We are honoured that such prominent experts took part in the conference to share their knowledge and discuss matters affected by – and related to – Cyber Security, and the opportunities this represents to National, Regional and Global interests. 

Our skilled moderators, Mr. Kristian Mouritzen from the Berlingske Group and Prof. Karen Lund Pedersen from DIIS, led the conference and panel discussions with grace, before guests filled with new knowledge and eager to know more concluded the day with on-point questions for discussion in the Q&A-session, where the moderators skilfully tied it all together with answers from the panel of speakers.

By the end of the successful conference, we had a graduation ceremony for the CSCD Youth Academy students, that received their certificates of completion on this day.  

The CSCD Youth Academy is our newest initiative launched this spring, with the purpose to foster diplomatic dialogue and cultural exchange between top talented Danish students – with a special interest in diplomacy and foreign policy – and Ambassadors in Copenhagen.

This semester we had the exquisite honour to visit the embassies of; Croatia – Argentina – China – Serbia – and Slovenia, which generously invited our selected students to their embassies and have shown them the inside world of diplomacy, to build bridges between diplomacy and top talented students who will be the future Danish Diplomats, Policy Makers, and Stake Holders of Denmark.

We call this rare concept “Have Tea with the Ambassador” and will continue after the summer with five new embassies.

It was great to be back with a conference in physical form and we are deeply grateful to all parties who contributed to the success of the conference, which we humbly hope may serve as both inspiration and a knowledge-sharing source for better and more resilient preparedness against cyber-attacks in Denmark and other countries, especially under the current trying times.

It is – as always – your kind support, which makes all this possible, and we look forward to many more activities that we are currently planning for the rest of 2022.

Click here to read more about the CSCD Youth Academy

Click here for Upcoming Events

Click here to read more about the Ambassadors Lounge

We are excited to present our newest conference on Cyber Security, Markets, Infrastructure, and Cooperation, in close collaboration with Mr. Martin Lidegaard, the Danish Parliament, and the Israeli Embassy in Denmark – exclusively through CSCD’s Ambassadors Lounge. We will dive into Israel’s perspective as a cyber world leader, cyber connections in the World, and G2G cooperation with other countries, while our experts investigate the cyber markets and their needs, protection of critical infrastructure, the green agenda, and how all this relates to the current state of the World.

Our expert panel will discuss topics affected by and related to cyber topics and the opportunities this represents to Danish and EU/World interests and will share their extensive knowledge through a series of exclusive talks followed by a discussion to be rounded up with a Q&A and networking with refreshments. The conference offers a unique opportunity to gain insights into Cyber Security, as seen through Diplomatic, Business, and Scientific lenses.

Venue: the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)

Date and time: June 24^th, 2022 | 9.00-13.00

Full program and registration: [click here]

The talks will be under the Chatham House Rule and followed by a Q&A session and networking with refreshments.

As a guest, you get a unique opportunity for networking in the company of Ambassadors, Diplomats, Political Decision-makers, Business Stakeholders, University Researchers and other high-level VIPs.

We look forward to welcoming you to a unique conference to boost your knowledge and build on possibilities for the future.

Fostering Global Citizenship and Diplomatic Skills with Ambassadors

Dear Most Valued CSCD-friends

As many of you have been waiting for and have requested, we are now pleased to announce the launch of our new initiative: CSCD Youth Academy.

CSCD Youth Academy is an initiative affiliated with CSCD (Center for Science and Commercial Diplomacy) that offers students with a sincere interest in diplomacy and international affairs a unique opportunity to visit embassies and gain first-hand insights into globally significant issues – hereby introducing the CSCD concept ”Have Tea with the Ambassador”.

We have held meetings with several distinguished ambassadors who have committed themselves to CSCD Youth Academy and given their invaluable consent to be part of this mutually beneficial initiative that will create a network between embassies and future leaders and diplomats of Denmark.

We extend our deepfelt appreciations and thanks to all our partners, particularly to the two leading student organisations in Denmark, ID (International Debate) and POLIS (POLitical science, It-management, and Social sciences):

The application window* is currently open, and we are scrutinizing the incoming applications from talented students and young professionals.

*Application deadline for the current semester is February 28th, 2022, at 00.00.

Click to read more: [Read More], or go directly to the application form: [Application Form]

We are delighted to present the CSCD Youth Academy, which will foster Global Citizenship and Diplomatic Skills, and we are looking very much forward to this collaboration.

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For further information or if you have any questions on how to become a partner, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

We wish you a Merry Christmas and send you our best wishes for a blessed New Year filled with good health and success.

We look forward to a new year with exciting news, where we will introduce our new initiative “CSCD Youth Academy” and further upcoming activities (more to follow in our newsletter). We are deeply grateful for your continued and invaluable support in these challenging times.

Stay safe and enjoy the Holidays.

With the warmest seasonal greetings,
the CSCD-team

Dear CSCD friends and colleagues 

CSCD’s Science Diplomacy section is currently collaborating on a global covid-19 data collection project. The collaboration is led and carried out by our Global Associate member, Professor Henrik Hansson, from Stockholm University. The research project is a large-scale study on Covid-19 impact on education and is currently the largest study of its kind. It already has more than 8500 responses from 71 countries, and the data collection is open until the end of April 2021. 

The results will be the most up-to-date information from students, professors, educators, scholars, education management, and policymakers’ points of view; both on the current situation and on the future. It will therefore provide a good basis for policy decisions and the plan is to co-author the national report with local researchers in each country.

Your assistance is kindly needed
We therefore kindly request you to send this information to your higher education and university network and ask them to respond and disseminate the survey to their university staff, students, and/or university network. This will help us get solid information from as many countries as possible, as we at CSCD believe it is beneficial for all countries around the globe to be represented in the data collection, so a country-specific report can be prepared and no country is left out due to lack of data. It is therefore highly appreciated if this message can reach out and every contribution is valued.  

The survey is available in 11 languages through this link (please feel free to share): 
Global Online Survey on the COVID-19 Impacts on Education and Needs for Distance Education and Digital Solutions — ICDE

In case of any queries or uncertainties, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you need detailed information regarding the data collection, you are also welcome to contact Prof. Hansson directly by email: [email protected]

We thank you for your time and wish you all a most pleasant day and week.

Best regards
Dr. Shahamak Rezaei 
Founding CEO