Speakers

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook is a political scientist and senior non-profit manager with expertise in program and strategy development and implementation, staff direction, philanthropic fundraising, budget management, communications and branding. She has been trained as an broadcast journalist. As a German-American comparative political scientist, her research work focuses on transatlantic relations, international security architecture, the transformational impact of the digital and data revolutions on foreign policy and the evolving role of new actors, particularly cities, in international relations. She has written widely on foreign policy, negotiation and diplomacy in academic journals and mainstream media and her writing and commentary has featured on NPR, BBC, Deutschlandfunk, New York Times, Washington Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, El Pais, ARD & ZDF and PHOENIX German Television, including live overnight analysis of the U.S. elections in 2012, 2016 and 2020. Picture by Sebastian Pfuetze

Anton “Toni” Hofreiter is a german politician who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2005 elections.

Since the 2021 elections, Hofreiter has been serving as chairman of the Committee on European Affairs. In addition to his committee assignments, he has been a member of the German delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly since 2022.

Dr. Ulrike Franke is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), where she focuses on European security and defence, the future of warfare, and the impact of emerging technologies such as drones and AI. Through her research and public engagement, she helps shape the debate on the future of European security in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape.

At the Young European Symposium 2026, she will share her insights on the challenges and opportunities facing Europe, from technological transformation to the future of defence and international cooperation.