On May 13th and 14th, 2025, Martina Landman, Lukas Lehner and René Röpke attended a symposium on CS education, hosted by the Austrian Computer Society (OCG) and Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS). The event was focused on three key areas: Computer Science in Higher Education, Computing as a Foundation for Empowered Citizens and Computing-Empowerment in Action. The program was filled in keynotes, talks, panel discussions, a poster session, workshops and opportunities to network and connect.
Besides attending the event, our team also contributed to the program: As such, René Röpke contributed as a panelist on a discussion about “The Austrian View – Computer Science and its Contribution to Empowered Citizens” on Day 1. Together with experts from Industry and education, he dove into discussions on the importance of teaching CS and the role of CS to empower society today and tomorrow. The discussion highlighted the importance of CS education on all levels and placed important focus on educational initiatives, e.g. the TU Wien Informatics eduLAB.
On Day 2, Martina Landman and Lukas Lehner hosted participants of the symposium at TU Wien Informatics and invited them to explore the “Abenteuer Informatik” exhibition, a key element in the TU Wien Informatics eduLAB. Multiple small groups of participants explored the exhibition, solving the scavenger hunt and learning about fundamentals of CS through playful interaction.
All in all, the event was the perfect opportunity to network and connect with CS researchers, practitioners and enthusiasts! It offered a dense program with many interesting topics and issues relevant to our community. We thank OCG and CEPIS for the opportunity to participate and look forward to upcoming events!
