The scientific work competition for Latvian university students

One of the projects aimed at Latvian youth and organized by the Latvian Trans-Atlantic organization (LATO) and NATO member state and government meeting organization office in preparation for the NATO summit in Riga is the competition of scientific work for Latvian university students. The aim of the competition is to stimulate the interest in students on security and defense policy issues and to popularize research work.

The scientific work had to be submitted by the October 13 deadline; students mainly have chosen to analyze issues like the role of NATO in combating terrorism, Russia and NATO, the Alliance tasks for the future and safety aspects of the nuclear energy.

The evaluation of scientific work was done by a special commission representing the University of Latvia, Riga Stradins University, Vidzeme College as well as LATO and NATO Summit Latvia Task Force. The evaluation criteria are the following: methodology and structure, analytical approach and quality, originality, innovative ideas and solutions, Latvian interest and position analysis within the context of the given idea and the scope of the selected materials and their quality.

Competition winners were defined on the basis of the number of points scored and results were announced on November 3. The author of the best work will have an opportunity to partake in the Young Leaders forum in Riga, which is going to be one of the key events during the NATO summit in Riga and to visit Washington thanks to the cooperation with the U.S.  – Baltic Foundation. The work that has gained recognition will be published in a compendium of articles and the authors will visit the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The competition is organized in liaison with the University of Latvia, Riga Stradins University and Vidzeme College. The project is funded by NATO Summit in Riga in 2006 support committee and the Soros Foundation – Latvia.