Zum Abschluss des Jahres fand vom 27.12. bis zum 04.01. die World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) in Sofia, Bulgarien statt. Über 320 Teams aus der ganzen Welt debattierten in neun Vorrunden und zahlreichen Outrounds gegeneinander – das Team USU A (Jack Story, Udai Kamath) aus Sydney sicherte sich dabei den Titel in der Open Category. Im English as a Second Language (ESL) Final gewann UBelgrade C (Obrad Kostic, Strahinja Batanjski), im English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Final UBelgrade A (Katarina Lazic, Novak Čelebić).

USU A (Jack Story, Udai Kamath) gewann das Open Final aus der Eröffnenden Regierung gegen die Eröffnende Opposition Stanford A (Amitai Ben Porat, Elizabeth Li), die Schließende Regierung Sofia A (Alek Selveliev, Velina Andonova) und die Schließende Opposition Cambridge A (Max Rosen, Sophie Hannigan). Thema des Open Finals war “This House Opposes the development of AI systems to optimise for human influence”. Es jurierte Miloš Marjanović im Chair zusammen mit Bea Legaspi, Kat Cheng, Pranav Kagalkar, Teck Wei Tan, Tengku Omar, Tin Puljić, Tshi Malatji und Xiao-ke Lu.

Im ESL Final debattierten die Teams IGNOU A (Anshuman Mishra, Raghav Dagar) in der Eröffnenden Regierung, Zagreb B (Lea Pogač, Lovro Marušić) in der Eröffnenden Opposition, AMU A (Hanix Szczerbińskx, Wiktor Chałupniczak) in der Schließenden Regierung und UBelgrade C (Obrad Kostic, Strahinja Batanjski) in der Schließenden Opposition. In der Debatte zum Thema “This House Believes That neoliberalism has failed” konnte sich die Schließende Opposition durchsetzen. Das ESL Final wurde juriert von Ryan Lafferty im Chair, Andrew Chen, Ashish Xiangyi Kumar, Ayal Mor, Dylan Leo McCarthy, Jack Williams, Juanita Hincapié Restrepo, Kelvin Kwabena Asamoah Damptey und Minami Matsushima.

Auch im EFL Final zum Thema “This House, as an average person in a developed country, Would lead a life heavily prioritising long term commitments (people, places, vocations, etc.) over heavily prioritising flexibility and keeping options open” sicherte sich ein Team aus Belgrad den Titel. UBelgrade A (Katarina Lazic, Novak Čelebić) debattierten in der Eröffnenden Opposition gegen PUCP B (Diego Nuñez del Prado Velarde, Sebastián Ezeta) in der Eröffnenden Regierung, Tsukuba A (Yuichiro Hata, Yuki Kato) in der Schließenden Regierung und UBelgrade B (Lazar Popović, Vasilije Milačić) in der Schließenden Opposition. Chair des EFL Finals war Enting Lee, außerdem jurierten Brendon J Chen, Guy Wolf, Jack Stanley, Mubarrat Wassey, Paula Djaković, Sachin, Tejas Subramaniam und Umar Buckus.

Der VDCH war mit mehr als 10 Teams auf den Worlds vertreten – Redende und Jurierende aus Wien, München, Berlin, Aachen, Heidelberg, Potsdam und Leipzig nahmen an den Weltmeisterschaften teil. Besonders erfolgreich schnitt dabei der DK Wien ab: Die Teams DK Wien A (Anton Gonta, Marina Kojić) und DK Wien B (Mira Eberdorfer, Victor Bervoets) schafften beide den Open Break! Mira und Victor breakten ins Partial Double Octofinal, Anton und Marina sogar ins Octofinal. Außerdem war Victor fünftbester Redner in der Kategorie EFL (English as a Foreign Language).

Die WUDC Sofia 2026 wurde von Nikolay Angelov, Rumen Marinov und Maksim Zangov hauptorganisiert. Das CA-Panel bestand aus Matt Caito und Marta Vasić als CAs und David Africa, Anna Shreder, Chris Mentis Cravaris, Ruth Selorme Acolatse, Joy Hadome, Sajid Khandaker, Matthew Toomey und Dennis Su als DCAs. Das Tabteam bestand aus Étienne Beaulé und Nora Flynn-McIver als Co-Directors, Jemma Griffin, Polyxeni Damigou, Serg Mascot, Simran Makwane und Valeria Corona Ramírez.

Jurierendenbreak:

Ahmad Bin Tahir, Ahmed El-Sammak, Ana Coman, Anders Cairns Woodruff, Andrew Chen, Angus McGregor, Anna Shreder, Arpi Yang, Ashish Xiangyi Kumar, Assaph Hanany, Ayal Mor, Banun Sabri, Bea Legaspi, Benjamin Vigueras, Brendon J Chen, Brent Schmidt, Caitlin Lai-Yee Mah, Chisato Kuwayama, Chris Mentis Cravaris, Daisy Yan Sun, David Africa, Dennis Su, Diego Duarte, Dylan Leo McCarthy, Ellie Middleton, Emily Frizell, Enting Lee, Guy Wolf, Hana Zawawi, Hilmy Yazid, Ilija Ivanišević, Isobel Dixon-Holden, Jack Palmer, Jack Stanley, Jack Williams, Jane Mentzinger, JAshworth, Joy Hadome, Juanita Hincapié Restrepo, Kat Cheng, Kelvin Kwabena Asamoah Damptey, Klaudia, Lachlan Blair, Livia Fordellone, Lucy Murphy, Manuel Machorro, Marta Vasić, Matheus Furtado, Matt Caito, Matthew Toomey, Meg Kandarpa, Miloš Marjanović, Minami Matsushima, Mubarrat Wassey, Nicholas Abernethy, Nir Kligsberg, Odessa Julienne Rebaya, Oliver Chow, Olivia Arbour, Paula Djaković, Petar Žnidar, Pinelle Bikouta, Pranav Anand, Pranav Kagalkar, Reja Debevc, Robert Barrie, Rohan Kapoor, Rok Hafner, Roy Schulman, Rushdoon Ahmed, Ruth Selorme Acolatse, Ryan Lafferty, Sachin, Sajid Khandaker, Sarenna McKellar, Shaun Lee, Shireen Ali, Sofia Tzarimas, Soh Kay Boon, Stefan Milicescu, Tanay Patri, Tarun Ruschmeier, Teck Wei Tan, Tejas Subramaniam, Tengku Omar, Teye Prince-Daniel, Tin Puljić, Tom Kuson, Tshi Malatji, Umar Buckus, V Sayiram, Vishaak Gangasandra, Vladimira Šuflaj, Xiao-ke Lu, Yael Wolff

Open Teambreak nach 9 Vorrunden (Platz 1 bis 16 direkt ins Achtelfinale, Platz 17 bis 48 ins Partial Double Octofinal):

1. USU A (Jack Story, Udai Kamath), 24 Teampunkte
2. Oxford C (Bharath Anantham, Gareth Lim Yefeng), 23 Teampunkte
3. Stanford A (Amitai Ben Porat, Elizabeth Li), 22 Teampunkte
4. Oxford A (Leo Marinopoulos, Maximus Papaioannides), 21 Teampunkte
5. Sofia A (Alek Selveliev, Velina Andonova), 20 Teampunkte
6. Tokyo A (Kotaro Yoshida, Nasa Tsuchiya), 20 Teampunkte
7. NBU A (Biser Angelov, Maria Matcheva), 20 Teampunkte
8. PUCP C (Mauricio Jarufe Caballero, Mattias Durán Santis), 20 Teampunkte
9. UNSW A (Bennett Roebuck-Krautz, Jordyn Gibson), 20 Teampunkte
10. Cambridge B (Martha McKinney-Perry, Krystal Wang), 20 Teampunkte
11. ULjubljana A (David Safro, Maj Hrovatin), 20 Teampunkte
12. IGNOU B (K. Dhruv Singh, Sehaj Reen), 20 Teampunkte
13. USU B (Jack Glass, Samuel Druce), 19 Teampunkte
14. NUS B (Ian Dylan Chai, Rdu Dillon), 19 Teampunkte
15. NUS A (Naomi Ang, Cavan Tay), 19 Teampunkte
16. Harvard C (Haotian Pan, Khumoetsile), 19 Teampunkte
17. UNSW C (Jehiel Pather, Oliver Bardsley), 19 Teampunkte
18. Oxford E (Chanidu Ratnayake, Hans Deepak), 19 Teampunkte
19. Oxford D (Ahmed Hussain, Nicole Wong), 19 Teampunkte
20. PKU A (Daisy Jin, Ricky Jin), 19 Teampunkte
21. Cambridge C (Alldon Garren Tan, Joshua Low), 19 Teampunkte
22. UCT A (Menzimuhle, Providence Vee), 19 Teampunkte
23. Cambridge A (Max Rosen, Sophie Hannigan), 18 Teampunkte
24. Oxford B (Aidan Young Je Woo, Tanush Agarwal), 18 Teampunkte
25. Penn A (Clement Tsao, Karthik Palakodeti), 18 Teampunkte
26. UNSW E (Auguste McNally, Yang Ming Sim), 18 Teampunkte
27. Zagreb A (Domagoj Praljak, Jagoda Sabljić), 18 Teampunkte
28. USU H (Bibi Kuo, Will Ryan), 18 Teampunkte
29. Princeton A (Ollie Braden, Rahul Kalavagunta), 18 Teampunkte
30. ANU A (Ally Pitt, Dhruv Hariharan), 18 Teampunkte
31. Columbia A (Mukudzeiishe Madzivire, Victor Tong), 18 Teampunkte
32. McGill A (Eve Pigat, Vijay Tupper), 18 Teampunkte
33. UOA A (Harper Smith, James Boland), 18 Teampunkte
34. Copenhagen A (Darin Hiwa Mansurbeg, Laura Serafine Pilmark), 18 Teampunkte
35. Columbia B (Tanya Chatterjee, Rohan Sundaram), 18 Teampunkte
36. UNSW B (Lachie Doyle, Maya Anderson), 18 Teampunkte
37. UCLA A (Richard Colgrove, Will Ryan), 18 Teampunkte
38. Athens A (Panagis Gouvelis, George Fragkiadakis), 18 Teampunkte
39. DK Wien B (Mira Eberdorfer, Victor Bervoets), 18 Teampunkte
40. NUS D (Ashley Wee, Lee Wei Le), 18 Teampunkte
41. USU D (Arwyn Stone, Mia Freeland), 17 Teampunkte
42. Seoul A (Park Sunghyun, Park Youngwoo), 17 Teampunkte
43. UWO A (Daniel Svirsky, Ethan Curry), 17 Teampunkte
44. Melbourne A (Elanor Parkinson, Guy Williams), 17 Teampunkte
45. USU C (Archie Wolifson, Neva Mikulic), 17 Teampunkte
46. DK Wien A (Anton Gonta, Marina Kojić), 17 Teampunkte
47. Harvard A (Molly Callaghan, Stephanie Chen), 17 Teampunkte
48. Waterloo A (Advait Sangle, Alex Zhu), 17 Teampunkte

ESL Teambreak nach 9 Vorrunden (Viertelfinale):

1. Oxford A (Leo Marinopoulos, Maximus Papaioannides), 21 Teampunkte [different break]
2. Sofia A (Alek Selveliev, Velina Andonova), 20 Teampunkte [different break]
3. Tokyo A (Kotaro Yoshida, Nasa Tsuchiya), 20 Teampunkte [different break]
4. NBU A (Biser Angelov, Maria Matcheva), 20 Teampunkte [different break]
5. ULjubljana A (David Safro, Maj Hrovatin), 20 Teampunkte [different break]
6. IGNOU B (K. Dhruv Singh, Sehaj Reen), 20 Teampunkte [different break]
7. Oxford E (Chanidu Ratnayake, Hans Deepak), 19 Teampunkte [different break]
8. PKU A (Daisy Jin, Ricky Jin), 19 Teampunkte [different break]
9. UCT A (Menzimuhle, Providence Vee), 19 Teampunkte [different break]
10. Zagreb A (Domagoj Praljak, Jagoda Sabljić), 18 Teampunkte [different break]
11. Copenhagen A (Darin Hiwa Mansurbeg, Laura Serafine Pilmark), 18 Teampunkte [different break]
12. Athens A (Panagis Gouvelis, George Fragkiadakis), 18 Teampunkte [different break]
13. DK Wien B (Mira Eberdorfer, Victor Bervoets), 18 Teampunkte [different break]
14. Seoul A (Park Sunghyun, Park Youngwoo), 17 Teampunkte [different break]
15. DK Wien A (Anton Gonta, Marina Kojić), 17 Teampunkte [different break]
16. Noun A (Ayodele Adeyemi Samuel, Eze Nwakuba), 16 Teampunkte
17. Ben Gurion A (Itay Tal, Rina Freiman), 16 Teampunkte
18. Erasmus A (Kaloyan Kotzev, Marin Marinov), 16 Teampunkte
19. Malaya A (Vigneshwaran A/L Sundrasagar, Muhyuddin Ahsan), 16 Teampunkte
20. Zagreb C (Brina Verdnik, Patrik Branšajd), 16 Teampunkte
21. AMU A (Hanix Szczerbińskx, Wiktor Chałupniczak), 16 Teampunkte
22. IGNOU A (Anshuman Mishra, Raghav Dagar), 16 Teampunkte
23. Korea A (Na’ama Benamy Schoneveld, Seungjae Han), 16 Teampunkte
24. Zagreb B (Lea Pogač, Lovro Marušić), 15 Teampunkte
25. Veritas A (Joan Heart, Ayafa Tonye), 15 Teampunkte
26. ASDV Bonaparte A (Irina Chicuș, Oana Nitu), 15 Teampunkte
27. Tokyo D (Riho Takahashi, Taiki Tsuchiya), 15 Teampunkte
28. UBelgrade C (Obrad Kostic, Strahinja Batanjski), 15 Teampunkte
29. UABe A (Konstantin Koki Popović, Stefan Josipović), 15 Teampunkte
30. IGNOU C (Angad Singh Chawla, Vansh Chadha), 15 Teampunkte
31. Leiden A (Daan Koning, Lina Fefer), 15 Teampunkte

EFL Teambreak nach 9 Vorrunden (Halbfinale):

1. Athens A (Panagis Gouvelis, George Fragkiadakis), 18 Teampunkte [different break]
2. Zagreb C (Brina Verdnik, Patrik Branšajd), 16 Teampunkte [different break]
3. AMU A (Hanix Szczerbińskx, Wiktor Chałupniczak), 16 Teampunkte [different break]
4. Zagreb B (Lea Pogač, Lovro Marušić), 15 Teampunkte [different break]
5. UBelgrade C (Obrad Kostic, Strahinja Batanjski), 15 Teampunkte [different break]
6. UABe A (Konstantin Koki Popović, Stefan Josipović), 15 Teampunkte [different break]
7. UBelgrade D (Luka Maksić, Pavle Antonijević), 14 Teampunkte
8. PUCP B (Diego Nuñez del Prado Velarde, Sebastián Ezeta), 14 Teampunkte
9. UBelgrade Z (Микарић, Filip Ubović), 14 Teampunkte
10. Tsukuba A (Yuichiro Hata, Yuki Kato), 14 Teampunkte
11. Zagreb D (Ema Vlajčević, Lena Matanović), 14 Teampunkte
12. UBelgrade B (Lazar Popović, Vasilije Milačić), 13 Teampunkte
13. PUCP A (Fernanda Crousillat Rayter, Jorge Godos Ortiz), 13 Teampunkte
14. UBelgrade A (Katarina Lazic, Novak Čelebić), 13 Teampunkte

Redner:innen Top 10 nach Vorrunden:

1. Bharath Anantham, 83,44
2. Udai Kamath, 83,22
3. Jack Story, 83,11
4. Max Rosen, 82,78
5. Gareth Lim Yefeng, 82,56
6. Amitai Ben Porat, 82,33

=7. Nasa Tsuchiya, 82,22

=7. Sophie Hannigan, 82,22

=9. Maria Matcheva, 81,89

=9. Alek Selveliev, 81,89

ESL Redner:innen Top 10 nach Vorrunden:

1. Amitai Ben Porat, 82,33
2. Nasa Tsuchiya, 82,22

=3. Maria Matcheva, 81,89

=3. Alek Selveliev, 81,89

=5. Maximus Papaioannides, 81,78

=5. Velina Andonova, 81,78

7. Leo Marinopoulos, 81,44
8. Biser Angelov, 81,33

=9. Mattias Durán Santis, 81,22

=9. Kotaro Yoshida, 81,22

EFL Redneri:innen Top 10 nach Vorrunden:

1. Mattias Durán Santis, 81,22
2. Jagoda Sabljić, 80,44
3. Park Sunghyun, 80,00
4. Lovro Marušić, 79,89
5. Victor Bervoets, 79,78
6. Darin Hiwa Mansurbeg, 79,56
7. Panagis Gouvelis, 79,44
8. George Fragkiadakis, 79,22
9. Lea Pogač, 79,00
10. Pavle Antonijević, 78,56

Die Themen des Turniers im Überblick:

Round 1: Infoslide: Bulgaria has a flat tax system, applying a uniform 10% income tax after meeting a minimum income threshold. A progressive tax system is a taxation model in which the tax rate increases as taxable income increases.

This House Believes That Bulgaria should adopt a progressive tax system.

Round 2: This House Prefers A World where all religions prohibited visual depictions of the divine over a world where such depictions were central to all religions.

Round 3: Infoslide: „Moralised journalism“ refers to media outlets taking an explicit moral or values-driven approach in their reporting. Such outlets would take a clear and consistent stance on the issues they cover. This may include coverage that emphasises moral outrage, the use of emotionally charged language, and links to broader social narratives.

This House, as the leadership of a major news organisation (e.g., The Economist, CBS, The Washington Post), Would adopt moralised journalism as a stance.

Round 4: This House Believes That Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power has been good for Saudi Arabia.

Round 5: Infoslide: „Social justice speak“ refers to the growing use of academic and activist terms about structural oppression and social inequality in everyday conversations, outside academic or activist settings. Examples include, but are not limited to, terms like: “mansplaining,” “white privilege,” “microaggressions,” and “intersectionality.”

This House Opposes the popularisation of social justice speak.

Round 6: Infoslide: A golden share is a single, unique, state-held share that grants the government special veto and approval powers over strategic corporate decisions (such as foreign ownership, technology transfer, or asset relocation). Golden shares are typically created and transferred to the government through legislative or executive action.

This House Believes That it is in the interests of the American people for the US government to acquire golden shares in strategically important firms (e.g., NVIDIA, MP Materials, US Steel).

Round 7: This House Opposes the use of user-specific algorithms to deliver on-demand content for entertainment (including but not limited to: the pipeline of short-form videos on TikTok or Instagram, personalised suggestions on YouTube or Netflix).

Round 8: Infoslide: Hybrid warfare refers to state actions designed to undermine another state without declaring open war (such as cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, and damage to infrastructure).

This House Believes That the EU should adopt a significantly more aggressive foreign policy stance* in response to Russian hybrid warfare operations in Europe (*including but not limited to: retaliatory attacks on Russian shadow fleet ships in the Black Sea, cyber-attacks and sabotage operations targeting Russian infrastructure).

Round 9: This House Predicts that the developing world will become more, rather than less, democratic over the next decade.

EFL Semifinals: This House Prefers A World in which post-apartheid South Africa nationalised major firms, rather than pursuing policies that expanded Black private ownership.

EFL Final: This House, as an average person in a developed country, Would lead a life heavily prioritising long term commitments (people, places, vocations, etc.) over heavily prioritising flexibility and keeping options open.

ESL Quarterfinals: Infoslide: The Monroe Doctrine (1823) asserts that any intervention by external powers in the politics of the Americas would be viewed as a potentially hostile act against the US. Its modern revival refers to recent efforts to reassert the US sphere of influence to counter the growing presence of other powers (e.g., China, Russia) in South America.

This House Supports the modern revival of the Monroe Doctrine.

ESL Semifinals: In developed democracies, This House Believes That growing up as a Millennial teenager (born 1981–1996) was better than growing up as a Gen Z teenager (born 1997–2012).

ESL Final: Infoslide: Neoliberalism is an ideology that rose to prominence during the 1980s. It emphasises free markets, deregulation, and increased global economic integration.

This House Believes That neoliberalism has failed.

Partial Double Octofinals: This House Believes That domestication* has done more harm than good for non-human animals (*of pets, livestock, etc.).

Octofinals: Infoslide: During crises, commercial banks and firms may struggle to obtain market credit. In such situations, central banks may use direct credit allocation mechanisms, such as providing loans to banks or, more rarely, directly to firms. These tools allow central banks to channel cheaper credit to specific sectors (e.g., by offering discounted funding to banks conditional on lending to targeted sectors, by lending directly to firms in that sector, or through sector-specific bond purchases).

In times of crisis, This House Believes That central banks should use their direct credit allocation mechanisms to provide sectors with high positive externalities* easier credit access (*e.g., green tech, infrastructure, healthcare).

Quarterfinals: This House Opposes the use of historical and religious narratives as justification for modern territorial claims.

Semifinals: This House Regrets the use of drastic state interventions to address the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., prolonged mass lockdowns, school closures, vaccine mandates).

Grand Final: Infoslide: Human influence refers to the ability of AI systems to exert influence over humans by mimicking human features and behaviours. Examples of this include strategic human-like bargaining, persuasion, and emotional engagement.

This House Opposes the development of AI systems to optimise for human influence.

ip/aeh.