SPS student is runner up in European Defence Challenge competition
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MSc International and European Politics student Sinan Bekka was runner-up in an international competition for students to present ideas for addressing a key challenge in the defence industry.
Sinan and his co-author Anaëlle Salamon, a student at Sciences Po Lille, were finalists in the Assets+ European Defence Challenge.
The Assets+ European Defence Challenge is an open competition to attract young talent to the defence industry and to encourage them to initiate a career in defence-related technologies.
130 students from 16 countries entered the challenge, which asked them to share their vision on the topic ‘Remote everything? To what extent can unmanned assets interact with humans in the field for defence operations?’.
Sinan and Anaëlle were one of two runner-up partnerships, with another partnership winning the competition. They earned their runner-up position for their proposal detailing a ‘three-step development program of European Defensive Autonomous Submarine Systems (EURO DASS) which will follow strict principles and hopefully will set a precedent for the making of unmanned systems in defence operations.’
Sinan said: “The European Defence Challenge was a formidable way of getting students to reflect on the future challenges of the field in all their variety. I am extremely proud that the project I proposed in tandem with Anaëlle Salamon of Sciences Po Lille was selected as a finalist, and very much grateful for the education I received in Edinburgh for it nourished my thoughts during the whole process.“
You can read the proposal here.
The awards ceremony took place on May 27 and was streamed online. Sinan and his co-author delivered a presentation representing their proposal idea - watch their presentation here. Speakers from the European Commission DG Defence industry & Space, the European Defence Agency, the European Parliament, and universities and industry partners of the ASSETs+ consortium were in attendance.