MUN is a worldwide practice of simulation games in which participants take over the role of an international delegate representing a country in a simulated committee of the UN. It is a very challenging and pedagogically valuable practice that attracted a huge network of educational institutions training for and conducting MUNs. Today, more than 400.000 people participate in MUNs each year.

The project PATRAPO extends this network to an intra-European cooperation for training for MUNs. For the time being, such a structure does not exist. The advantages of such a joint structure are the mutual support, possible synergy effects, and the widening of the respective horizons to different input and experiences. Besides it furthers intra-European relations and fosters EU values.

Participating in MUN allows Students the acquisition of key knowledge on the UN and International Relations as well as skills in debating, writing and presentation. This particular combination of knowledge transfer bridges theory and practice. MUN can be called a skill alliance that helps to close the gap between universities and specific political and administrative institutions.

Negotiations, collaboration, and complex discussions were part of this year’s online UN simulation MacMUN 2024, hosted by the UN Club at MacEwan University Edmonton (Canada). More than 50 delegates from Ukraine, Germany, Japan, Croatia and Canada worked together virtually last weekend. They passed three resolutions CCPJ/RES/1/1, CCPJ/RES/1/2, and CCPJ/RES/1/3 on the topic of “Criminal Justice Responses to Cybercrime in All its Forms”. Working among them in various breakout rooms and plenum sessions were four students from the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences.

MacEwan University (Canada) is a collaboration partner of the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences in the DAAD project “Transnational Governance and Human Rights”. The MacMUN conference took first place during the pandemic and has become a regular event that enables collaboration across borders and continents. “At MacMUN, individuals become global citizens”, stressed Nathan Poe, the current President of the UN Club at the beginning of the two-day event.

Melike Schalomon, the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at MacEwan university, opened MacMUN 2024 as Keynote Speaker. Coming from Germany originally, she greeted the German students with a warm “Grüess Gott miteinander” before encouraging the delegates “to take full advantage not only to debate and discuss but also to learn from one another”. Schalomon stressed that she is always “amazed at the critical evaluation of issues that comes out of this conference”.

“Model United Nations” (MUN) are a worldwide practice of simulations in which participants take on the role of an international delegate in a simulated committee of the United Nations (UN). Since 2019, Fulda delegations have been participating in real life and virtual MUNs.

More than a year of preparation and organization lie behind a five Fulda students and Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner who are now in the final stage of getting ready for National Model United Nations (NMUN). From 24 to 28 March 2024 they will be discussing, negotiating, and networking in New York together with thousands of students from all around the world. NMUN New York is the “world's largest, most prestigious, most diverse, and oldest ongoing university-level Model UN” (NMUN 2024). And for the first time, a delegation from Fulda University of Applied Sciences is part of the huge and well-known conference. “ It is a major success for us to have been accepted at NMUN with a delegation”, says Prof. Claudia Wiesner. “We are all happy and excited to be attending the NMUN prime event!”

NMUN is formally associated with the United Nations (UN) Department of Global Communications. This means that the conference in New York culminates at the UN Headquarters and provides a unique opportunity for all attendees. They will get to know students from various countries, be able to practice English, hold speeches in front of a big committee, stand in for their countries position and train their soft skills for their future work life.

The students will be representing Sao Tome and Principe in four committees individually or with a partner. In the General Assembly First Committee (GA1) they will discuss the two topics “Relationship between Disarmament and Development” and “The Role of Science and Technology in International Security and Disarmament”.

Collaboration and negotiations, speeches, and discussions as well as social events such as a city-rally were part of a three-day excursion to EfMUN from 19th to 21st of January. Four ICEUS- and MAHRS-students spent an exciting weekend in the town hall of the Thuringian city and got to know other students from eight German universities. The excursion was organized and accompanied by the faculty advisor Muriel C. Pluschke who summed the excursion up: “It was a great conference where the students could experience international negotiations and collaboration first hand and practice various soft skills important for their future work.”

As delegates each of the students represented an assigned member state in one United Nations’ committee. One student represented Egypt in the General Assembly where he discussed the two topics “Rights of Indigenous People” and “Empowering Conflict-Affected Children and Youth”. Two students represented the United Kingdom and Belgium in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and spoke about “Strengthening Partnerships for Sustainable Development in Least Developed Countries” and “Promoting Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable, and Modern Energy for All”.

For the second time the UN simulation "Model United Nations" (MUN) took place at the department of Social and Cultural Sciences from July 17 to 20. This year 39 students and five teachers from the partner universities Madrid, Edmonton, Lwiw and Zagreb participated, among them two students as a film team. On the part of the department of Social and Cultural Sciences, seven students from the Master ICEUS and seven students from the Master MAHRS participated. MUN has been held at the department since 2019. This year, under the leadership of Prof. Claudia Wiesner, a delegation from Fulda already participated in the MUN conference in Erfurt in January. Since winter 2022/2023, the preparatory seminars for MUN are integrated into the curriculum in MAHRS and ICEUS.

The Fulda MUN 2023 was conducted under the direction of Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner and Prof. Dr. Philip Liste as well as Muriel C. Pluschke and Clara Umstätter and with the support of a team consisting of Zhylien Kaja, Vivian Seidel, Vanessa Wintermantel and Pauline Woods (all from the department of Social and Cultural Sciences). It took place within the framework of the projects PATRAPO (Practicing Transnational Politics), Transnational Governance and Human Rights (HAW International), Brückenprogramm Hessen-Ukraine, supported by the Point Alpha Research Institute (PARI). Project partners are the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada. In addition, a student delegation from Catholic University Lwiw, Ukraine, led by Prof. Dr. Galyna Protsyk, took part (with the longest journey of over 26 hours by bus).

Three students from Canada as well as the visiting professor at the faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences, Prof. Dr. Chaldeans Mensah, led the participants as chairmen (Dais) through the conference and its proceedings.

Students and staff from the department of Social and Cultural Sciences of Fulda University of Applied Sciences (UAS) and the MacEwan University Edmonton (Canada) with its United Nations Club officially joined forces to collaborate on furthering MUN activities. Together they prepare for, practice and participate in (National) Models United Nations (NMUN) .

Delegates from both universities met during NMUN Erfurt in November 2019. The students Clara Umstätter and Hannah Wahler participated for Fulda University of Applied Arts in the NMUN.

“No other experience comes close to that of NMUN. Hannah and I wanted to give students the opportunity to get to know the work of the UN, transnational politics and international relations at first hand. But NMUN is also about meeting new people and connecting with students from all over the world. Fortunately, at our first conference in Erfurt I met Layal from McEwan University and we became friends. Thus we had the idea to connect our universities and to start a collaboration”, says Clara Umstätter. Both students stayed via email and social media in touch and exchanged research and teaching material as well as tips and other information regularly throughout the following semester’s NMUN course.

This cooperation was now institutionalised and will be further extended. The responsible professors both in Edmonton and Fulda, Prof. Dr. Chaldeans Mensah and Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner, connect and support the collaboration via integrating NMUN preparation into their teaching. “As the world faces a global pandemic, it is encouraging to see students from Germany and Canada engage virtually to exchange academic ideas to develop the skills of global citizenship, and acquire the diplomatic skills to participate effectively at NMUN conferences.

To slip into the role of a delegate of the United Nations and to experience how decisions are made on the UN level, this opportunity was offered to students from four different countries from July 4 to 6 in Fulda. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner and Prof. Dr. Philip Liste as well as Muriel C. Pluschke and Clara Umstätter (supported by Maria Keller, Zhylien Kaja and Meike Schmidt-Gleim), the SK Department hosted an international Model United Nations (MUN), which was carried out within the framework of the PATRAPO (Practicing Transnational Politics) and Transnational Governance and Human Rights (HAW International) projects. Project partners are Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, Zagreb University, Croatia, and MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada. In addition, a student delegation from Catholic University Lviv, Ukraine, led by Prof. Dr. Halyna Protsyk, arrived. The project partners were represented by a delegation of three students from Canada and Prof. Dr. Chaldeans Mensah. The Canadian students led the participants as chairmen (Dais) through the conference and its proceedings. In addition to the Canadians, a student delegation from Zagreb, Croatia, was present to participate in the conference. Additionally, students from Madrid, Spain, as well as some other students from Fulda were connected online to participate in the hybrid conference. After two semesters of intensive preparation in a virtual, cross-national seminar, it was a real highlight for all participants to finally come together in person and simulate a UN conference together, as well as to exchange ideas and make international contacts.

The first Model United Nations in Fulda was opened with a speech by Professor Halyna Protsyk from Ukraine. She addressed the war in Ukraine, which was also the topic of the following conference.

Students from eight universities have jointly drawn up six resolutions

The United Nations come into your own living room! Such was the name of the game for 23 students of the "Intercultural Communication and European Studies" (ICEUS) Master program of the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences. In the Alberta Intercollegiate Model United Nations (AIMUN) in march 2021, a UN simulation game, the students played the roles of diplomats from different states of the UN. To do this, they had beforehand extensively researched their countries’ political positions and prepared intensively. The Fulda students represented the eleven countries Russia, Brazil, South Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, Finland, Colombia, India, Australia, Sweden and Costa Rica.

The international conference – which took place online due to the pandemic – was organised by the UN Club of MacEwan University Edmonton (Canada). On two afternoons and well into the evening and the night (German time), the ICEUS Seniors met students from the University of Guelph-Humber Ontario (Canada), the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, the National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy and the Ukraine Catholic University (all three Ukraine), ITESO - Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara and the Universidad Iberoamericana, Leon (both Mexico). Together they worked out and passed six resolutions on the subject of "Climate Change: Mitigating its economic, environmental and social effects" and were able to gain valuable experience in negotiating and international diplomacy.

The conference began Saturday late afternoon German time (due to the different time zones, in Canada it was 9:00 am) with an opening ceremony. Dr. Melike Schalomon, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at MacEwan University, urged all participants to adopt a more global perspective, to familiarize themselves with international issues and to always reflect critically. She also emphasized the importance of cooperation and mutual understanding as well as of joint action. Further greetings came from Sean Waddingham, President of the Students ’Association at MacEwan University, and from Dr. Chaldeans Mensah, Faculty Advisor of the UN Club of MacEwan University. This was followed by a detailed presentation on the conference topic by activists Maryam and Nivaal Rehman, who founded “The World with MNR”.

Roll Call, talk and negotiate

After the first call of the delegates, the Ceremonial Roll Call, each of the delegations was given the opportunity to present his or her own position. In a 90-second opening speech, the students explained which measures the countries they represent have already implemented and which further goals and ideas they developed to limit climate change. Discussions, negotiations and the drafting of working papers and resolutions in virtual breakout rooms followed. The students were able to move back and forth between the virtual rooms and work together with other delegates. Numerous short speeches were given during the formal sessions of the General Assembly. These offered further opportunities to present the position of the state and for cooperation.