WEASA 2018 has come to an end

The 2018 edition of the Warsaw Euro-Atlantic Summer Academy - our now-annual summer school - has come to an end. Over fifty servants, journalists, NGO representatives, academics, and other mid-career professionals from across the Eastern Partnership, Western, Balkans, Poland, and Slovakia took part in the two-week event. This year, we focused primarily on the relationship between politics and technology. Participants and lecturers alike took a long, hard look at the impact of disinformation in our modern society, discussed ways of fighting back, while also thinking about the influence of social media on modern political discourse.

WEASA 2018 did not consist of theory alone. There were also plenty of practical classes and workshops. Participants, for example, learned how to figure out the GPS coordinates at which a photo was taken by analysing all the landmarks present therein. They also had long discussions about how to persuade policymakers of the risks of disinformation, develop a deterrence strategy against hybrid warfare, and better understand the viral nature of social media content. They furthermore learned plenty about digital security, looking at how to encrypt their data and messages and protect their other digital assets.

Still, it's never all about the classes. WEASA 2018 also gave everyone a chance to dine, talk, and get to know each other a little better. Be it a formal dinner with Fulbright scholars who were visiting Warsaw or informal meetings in the shade of Natolin's ancient trees, there were plenty of opportunities to form new friendships and connections that will undoubtedly last beyond the two weeks that participants spent on our campus.

Sixth edition of the Warsaw Euro-Atlantic Summer Academy - WEASA 2018