AMSTERDAM POLICY PRIZE - APP 2023
Click here to check out the winning policy proposals at APP 2023!
Established in 2021, the APP, the prestigious policy competition where student teams come together to compete against each other, was hosted again by the EUH Amsterdam this year 2023.
The days-long event was concluded with new friendships, enhancement of academic skills, and, of course, the top three best policy proposals on Safeguarding Democracy in the Digital Disinformation Age!
We would like to give a big heartfelt 'thank you' to all the volunteers, the APP committee, and the EUH board! Without their passion, dedication, and painstaking efforts, the APP would have not been such a smashing success! And a big 'thank you' to all those who participated. It is your enthusiasm that made APP memorable and worth continuing! So, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE BEEN WITH US THROUGH THIS YEAR'S APP! See you next year!
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If you are interested in sponsoring this event, then please contact us Here.
The Theme of APP 2023
The theme APP 2023 is ‘Safeguarding Democracy in the Digital Disinformation Age.’ The European Union has several policies in place related to democracy and disinformation. The European Democracy Action Plan, aiming to strengthen media freedom and counter disinformation, serves as an overarching policy framework. In addition to this action plan, the commission presented the European Media Freedom Act in September 2022, which seeks to bolster the independence and stable funding of public service media. The Guidance on Strengthening the Code of Practice on Disinformation was developed and presented in June 2022, to provide a framework for stakeholder dialogue, as well as transparency and accountability in these policies. These efforts build on the Action Plan on Disinformation, which was presented in December 2018. The action plan acknowledged the key role played by civil society and by social media companies and was created with the European Parliament elections of 2019 in mind. An international organisation to consider is NATO, for which disinformation and information warfare is decidedly important to the security of the alliance as a whole. Finally, last December the government of the Netherlands presented its new strategy for countering disinformation, aimed mostly at strengthening civil society and increasing bureaucrats’ resilience against fake news.
For the first time in the history of the APP, participants were given three policy options on which they could focus their proposals as a well to give them more freedom to pursue what they believed was the best policy route for the EU. The first track regarded "Curbing Social Media’s antidemocratic tendencies", the second "Restoring Trust in the Fourth Estate" and the last "Proposing a transatlantic grassroots initiative: education on disinformation". The participants could choose one of the three and use them as a base for their proposals.
THE GUEST EXPERTS OF APP 2023
THE CONSUL GENERAL AT THE U.S. CONSULATE GENERAL IN AMSTERDAM KATE NANAVATTY
Speaker
Kate Nanavatty is a foreign service official, a Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Amsterdam.
Kate’s career at the U.S. Department of State encompasses domestic leadership positions, overseas tours in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, and teaching roles. Her domestic assignments include serving as Chief of Staff to former Deputy Secretary of State Ambassador John Sullivan and subsequently to former Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun.
Her broad international experience includes serving tours in Tanzania, South Africa and Malaysia. Kate Nanavatty taught graduate seminars at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. She has also taught leadership courses at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI).
DR. HILLA DYAN
Speaker
Dr Hilla Dayan is a sociologist and political theorist, specializing in the Middle East, global politics, and the theory of democracy. She graduated from the University of Chicago in Social Sciences and continued her academic path by gaining a PhD on Israel’s regime of separation. Apart from lecturing, she is a regular contributor and commentator on Israel-Palestine and the Mizrahi struggle, and the co-founder of gate48, a platform for critical Israelis in the Netherlands, and Academia for Equality - a membership organization for the democratization of Israeli academia and society.
DAVID RYAN POLGAR
Speaker
David Ryan Polgar is a pioneering tech ethicist, Responsible Tech advocate, and expert on ways to improve social media and our information ecosystem, along with increasing the ethical considerations regarding emerging technologies. He specializes in uniting a diverse range of stakeholders in order to tackle complex tech & society issues, cultivating conducive environments for forward progress. Mr. Polgar is the founder of All Tech Is Human, a partner organization of European Horizons, that is committed to growing the Responsible Tech movement and making a stronger Responsible Tech ecosystem, more capable of tackling complex tech and societal issues.
DR. MARCEL HEERINK
Speaker
Dr. Marcel Heerink has extensive experience with international and interdisciplinary research projects in the field of healthcare, education-oriented ICT, technology, AI and ethics. He has worked for various universities and colleges, in the Netherlands and abroad. Dr. Heerink has made his mark as a researcher, fundraiser, project leader and as an author of academic, popular science and educational texts. In recent years he has increasingly focused on ethical issues raised by new technology such as AI, VR, robotics and AR.
GALLERY
APP Ceremony 2022
ABOUT AMSTERDAM POLICY PRIZE
2021 - The first "APP"
On the Saturday 24th April and Saturday 1st May, we are hosting a prestigious policy competition where several student associations will come together to compete against each other. The policy competition aims to foster connections of student associations across Amsterdam and will allow for students to present their talents. Students will have the opportunity to develop their skills in public speaking and learn more about policy making, namely on the topic of the Doughnut Economic Model.