Munich Young Leaders

Who are the Munich Young Leaders?

Participants of the programme are under 40 years of age and come from a wide range of backgrounds including governments, national and regional parliaments, civil society, academia, think tanks, the media and the private sector. They have an outstanding knowledge in the field of foreign and security policy as well as strong social skills and an excellent command of the English language.

Since 2009, every year a new cohort of about 25 outstanding talents joins the MYL programme to discuss and exchange ideas on foreign and security policy with key decision-makers at the MSC and engages in an intergenerational and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Speakers at previous sessions include Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission, former Foreign Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of Iran, Fatou Bensouda, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO Secretary General and former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark, as well as Fu Ying, Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the National People’s Congress in Beijing, and Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank.

How are the Munich Young Leaders selected?

The international participants for the Munich Young Leaders are recommended by the German Embassies in certain states, whereby each year a different constellation of states is selected. In coordination with the Chairman of the MSC, Körber-Stiftung chooses the international participants from the proposals submitted.

The German Munich Young Leaders are recruited from the Körber Network Foreign Policy, a group of outstanding young foreign policy specialists of the German government, the German Bundestag, as well as think tanks and the private sector. Please note that unsolicited applications cannot be considered.

Further activities

Once a year, all Munich Young Leaders alumni gather for an Annual Meeting to discuss current foreign and security policy issues and talk to high-ranking personalities of the host country. Previous Annual Meetings took place in Washington DC, Kyiv, Warsaw, Rabat, Moscow and Madrid. In 2019, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the programme, the alumni gathered in New York.

Throughout the year, Munich Young Leaders have the opportunity to participate in various events (online and offline) organised by the MSC and Körber-Stiftung.

In cooperation with other institutions, such as NATO or the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), members of the network get a chance to participate in other conferences and young leaders programmes.