Experiences at KULMUN

From the 4th to the 8th of March, our delegation took part in the 15th anniversary edition of KULMUN.
This MUN conference is organised by the KU Leuven annually in Leuven, Belgium. This year, the
overarching topic was “Decentering the Narrative: a Pathway for International Cooperation and
Partnerships in the Periphery”, focusing especially on the issues of historically disadvantaged groups and countries historically disadvantaged countries and groups and how to strengthen their influence. Our delegation sent 5 delegates, which were dispersed among the many interesting committees. The KULMUN conference is well-known in the MUN sphere for offering very well-organised and structured conferences with outstanding academics, expectations which this year’s edition of the conference did not disappoint. The offered committees were: the European Parliament, NATO, UNESCO, UNEP, ECLAC, Crisis and last but not least: the journalistic Newswire. Since each of us had insight into a different committee, we were able to gain many different experiences and enjoy the vast diversity of topics, contents and people this conference offered. While the European Parliament offered a high-level debate, Crisis offered costumes and historical theories and UNEP showed a plethora of memes and productive resolutions.
In addition to the academic endeavours, we experienced the beautiful city of Leuven and engaged with our fellow delegates in the splendid social events organized by the Excom.

We had a pirate-themed party, committee dinners, a city tour including a scavenger hunt which enlightened us about the rich history of Leuven and a fantastic gala night. Furthermore, we got to visit the (real) European Parliament in Brussels!
All of those events contributed dearly to get in touch with the other delegates, which we now call friends. Like any MUN, KULMUN was a perfect opportunity to exchange views with other participants about current geopolitical happenings and/or career possibilities (aka: “accidental” networking).
The conference is rather high-priced, costing 110 Euros, which include the entry to the conference, the socials, excursions as well as coffee and lunch. However, the high quality of the social events and the venues’ historic touch of the venues show why the delegate fee is comparably higher. The process to take part in KULMUN was relatively simple: the most important thing, as with all MUNs, is to know the deadlines and to apply on time. For this, either follow the instagram accounts of the MUN organisations, regularly check out MyMUN or – as the best option – come to CologneMUNs meetings, follow us on instagram and subscribe to the Newsletter to be kept up to date.