Transatlantic Dialogues 2026 — Civic Debate Consortium

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Transatlantic Dialogues 2026

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Transatlantic Dialogues 2026

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Competition Schedule

Formats & Best Practices

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For Event Hosts

2025 Conference

2024 Conference Agenda

Consortium Awards and Recognitions

Participating Institutions

Transatlantic Dialogues 2026

Home

Competition Schedule

Formats & Best Practices

Join/Collaborate

For Event Hosts

2025 Conference

2024 Conference Agenda

Consortium Awards and Recognitions

Participating Institutions

TRANSTALANTIC DIALOGUES

2026

Founded by École de Guerre and The George Washington University, Transatlantic Dialogues for Future Leaders is an annual intercollegiate dialogue series bringing together US and European university students to analyze and discuss important transatlantic topics. During the 2025 series, participants engaged in high-level discussions, collaborative research, and policy simulations focused on challenges facing Western liberal democracies, centred on countering disinformation and misinformation.

For more information, visit the 2025 webpage on this website.

SCHEDULE

FEBRUARY 28

COLORADO SPRINGS, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY (USAFA)

What are the primary challenges or threats to the Transatlantic Alliance posed by rising Russian and Chinese influence globally?

APRIL 18

WASHINGTON DC, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

More information to come

JUNE 19

PARIS, ECOLE DE GUERRE (EDG)

More information to come

United States Air Force Academy

Click here to acces the reading list.

More information to come

28/02/2026

For the first tournament in the 2026 series, to be held at the United States Air Force Academy, the students will be asked to prepare a 10 minute presentation in response to the question “What are the primary challenges or threats to the Transatlantic Alliance posed by rising Russian and Chinese influence globally?”

The USAFA is a four-year military college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that prepares students, known as cadets, to become officers in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force by combining academic education, military training, physical fitness, and character development; cadets earn a Bachelor of Science degree, receive a fully funded education, and upon graduation are commissioned as Second Lieutenants with a required service commitment.

FORMAT:

This presentation follows the Schuman Challenge Format. Teams will be ranked on the merit of their presentation and defense.

Event 1 rounds are not debates.
Teams will not address or respond to theother teams’ presentations during Event 1 on 28 Febraury.
Direct team-to-team engagement will be incoporated into Series 2 (Washington D.C) and Series Event 3 (Paris).

TEAM PRESENTATION & DEFENSE:

Teams of 2-3 students will be asked to prepare a 10-minute presentation in response to the above question.
Each team will present its position for 10 minutes.
Teams should use a running clock and cease speaking immediately upon expiration of their allotted time.
Presentations should include a well-developed and persuasive statement of the problem, supported by appropriate and credible research.

LOGISTICS:

Three rounds will be conducted over one day.
Time will be provided between rounds for mentor engagement, incorporation of feedback, and presentation judgements.
Teams will be ranked among a unique set of teams for Round 1 and Round 2, and to the greatest extent possible for Round 3.
Judge panels will consist of officer mentors and faculty from participating institutions.

George Washington University

École de Guerre

GENERAL GUIDELINES

The format for this event strongly borrows frrom the Schuman Challenge guidelines and judging rubric. A modified version is outlined below:

All participating teams are expected to the following guidelines throughout the competition.

Argumentation & Research:

Avoid overly broad or vague claims. Teams should refrain from speaking in generalities and instead present focused, clearly defined arguments
Support all claims with evidence-based analysis. Teams must be prepared to present credible evidence and explain why the best available research supports their conclusions.
Cite all external used. Proper citation is required for all research materials. Students caught plagiarising will be disqualified.

Presentation & Defense:

Be prepared to answer questions. Approximately half of each session will consist of Q&A period in which judges will challenge teams to defend their presentation. Judges will look for responses that demonstrate:
- A thorough understanding of the subject matter;
- Mastery of the team’s argument and it’s implications;
- The ability to reason clearly under questioning.
Work as a team.
- All team members must speak during the presentation;
- Speaking time should be prepared in a reasonable and equitable manner;
- During the Q&A section, any team member may answer judge’s questions;
- Judges will consider whether a team’s participation is significantly unbalanced when assessing overall performance.

Delivery & Communication:

Consider manner of delivery. Effective communication is a core competent of the evaluation. Judges will assess clarity of expression, organisation, persuasiveness, and professionalism throughout both the presentation and defense.

AI Use Policy:

Policy recommendations must be generated by the team. Ideas, arguments, and policy proposals must originate from team members and may not be generated by AI tools such as ChatGPT.
Permissable AI Use. AI tools may be used for research assistance only. Any sources identified or informed by AI toolsmust be cited in the same manner as other research materials.

Academic Integrity:

Teams are expected to treat their presentation as they would an academic assignment at their home institution.
All competition materials including presentations and scripts, must be original work.
Violations of academic integrity or AI policies will result in disqualification, even if discovered after the conclusion of the competition.

Series 1 USAFA event:

Series 2 GWU event:

More information to come

Series 3 EDG event:

More information to come

École de Guerre

1 Pl. Joffre, 75007 Paris, France

01 80 50 14 00 contact@ecoledeguerre.paris

Links:

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