From 7-17 August 2018, the second NEWDAY - Nansen East-West Dialogue Academy took place at Nansen Academy in Lillehammer, Norway. The academy was co-organised by NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Nansen Academy and the Fudan-European Centre for China Studies.

Above: A group photo of this year's participants and some of the lecturers.
Nansen Academy was founded as a folk high school in 1938. It was named after polar explorer, scientist, author and humanist Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), whose work embodied essential elements of humanism: active love of one’s neighbour and freedom of thought. NEWDAY is thus not only hosted physically by Nansen Academy, but also philosophically and ideologically. It embodies the spirit of the folk high school and Nansen Academy in its quest for creating understanding between cultures through dialogue between and across cultures.
This year, 22 students from China and Norway gathered at Nansen Academy to engage in cross-cultural dialogue, attend lectures, and partake in debates and panel discussions. The programme also featured several social and creative activities including musical performances, trips to local museums, and walks by the lake Mjøsa - the biggest lake of Norway.


In this year's summer academy we sought to define, dissect and discuss some of the critical cases and topical issue areas of our times: economic growth and increasing inequality, environmental degradation and climate change, quality of life, education, and modes of governance. Students were encouraged to actively voice their opinions and engage in discussions - not only with each other, but with professors and lecturers as well.



Each day featured lectures by prominent figures from within academia, politics, and media, and was constructed around a specific theme. This reflected not only in the daily lectures but also the group work and panel debates. The themes covered a range of different burning issues of our time, including climate change and environmental degradation, cross-cultural understanding, social trust and activism, varieties of political norms, gender, AI, educational traditions in the Nordic region and East Asia, and more.

Above: Some students enjoying a gike in the nearby mountains of Nansen Academy.