The Utopia Europe Prize 2025 goes to h_da. On Tuesday, 23 September 2025, a team of students from our university took part in the nationwide debate competition ‘Utopia Europe’ at the French Embassy in Berlin and prevailed against two other teams. In the competition on the topic of ‘Participation and engagement: giving young people in Europe a voice’, h_da students presented the EUT+ project ‘Become a Member of the European Parliament for one Day’, which was one of the highlights of EUT+ Darmstadt Week in June. The results of the project, in the form of a resolution, will be handed over to a member of the European Parliament in the next step.
By Christina Janssen, 25 Septemer 2025
The team of h_da consisted of four students: Anna Valerie Smeljanski (Master's in Media, Technology and Society), Alexander Stümpel (Bachelor's in Business Psychology) and Sofia Naumi, with preparatory support from Anja Dinzinger (both Bachelor's in Information Law). They were supported and coached by Prof. Dr. Anja Hentschel, Prof. Dr. Andreas Haidvogl (both from SuK) and Dorina Kaiser, advisor to President Prof. Dr. Arnd Steinmetz. They had already been in charge of organising the event in Darmstadt.
During the debate in Berlin, the students explained their ideas, were questioned critically by moderators and had to respond. The jury highlighted the innovative concept, the interdisciplinary and international orientation, the combination of social science and STEM perspectives, and the change of perspective associated with the idea of the EUT+ project as particularly convincing.
For the event in June, the students were randomly assigned to political groups in the European Parliament and therefore had to argue for political positions that they did not personally represent in the simulated parliamentary debate. This challenged them to engage intensively with other political positions, attitudes and perspectives.
‘Especially in our time, when we often turn against each other and dispute each other's opinions, it is important to reach out to each other, understand each other's perspectives and work out solutions together. That is exactly what our project should promote,’ explain students Anna Valerie Smeljanski and Alexander Stümpel, explaining their motivation. The event in Berlin and the discussions with the other participants and the jury were very inspiring. "This gave us valuable food for thought for our project. A change of perspective is more important than ever for constructive and productive discussions. We must learn to listen to, understand, and respect each other again and work toward a common solution. After all, a functioning democracy thrives on compromise." Prof. Dr. Anja Hentschel from h_da emphasises that the project links political education with real political relevance and makes an active contribution to the European opinion-forming process.
The jury included François Delattre, French Ambassador to Germany, Barbara Gessler, representative of the European Commission in Germany, and Prof. Dr. Eva Martha Eckkrammer, President of the Franco-German University. The ‘Utopia Europe’ prize has been awarded since 2019. The winning team is invited to visit the European Parliament in Strasbourg for a behind-the-scenes look and a meeting with MEPs. For the four students from h_da, who had already travelled to Strasbourg to prepare for the simulation game, this brings things full circle. Further information can be found here.
