MUIMUN’s ambitious scheme is to turn you into better delegates and human beings in general within the course of five days.  Since we acknowledge that this is a difficult task, we have gotten ourselves some professional support in the form of the “MUIMUN meets Experts” workshops. From New Media to solution-focused problem solving, there’s something for every weird taste. To help you with your decision, we’ve uploaded the Workshop Guide. Have fun browsing the catalogue and don’t forget to give us your preferations until Monday!

Slowly but surely, MUIMUN 2012 is drawing near and our team is getting to take the final steps on our road to organising a legendary conference. Yesterday evening, for example, we met at the AFO to pack the delegate bags you’ll receive Monday morning at the registration point, a special edition of the popular Münster University bags with lots of useful stuff as well as a few surprises inside. And afterwards was our last regular team meeting before the conference – time to get nervous!

So you have probably read the MUIMUN Rules of Procedure (you haven’t? Shame on you!) and, as a MUN first-timer, have very soon grown desperate because you have no idea what we’re talking about? No reason to cancel your participation! We all know what it feels like to be a MUN newby. And because we are awesome, we have shot our very own Rules of Procedure Video Tutorials to help you understand the principles behind formal debate and the journey of a resolution from being written as working paper to being thrashed by veto powers.

Even if you have previously participated in MUNs, you still might want to have a look at the tutorials and read the Rules of Procedure since experience shows that every MUN is a little different.

Go ahead, watch, learn, and become Best Delegates!

… the conference is going to be legendary! Not just because Barney Stinson would say the same, but because of YOU! After the registration has closed on Sunday, we proudly present the official number of participants in MUIMUN 2012: at that point 213 delegates will come to Münster – more than ever before! Together with the honorable chairs, our administrative staff and our external journalists, 239 people will join the conference. This is amazing, all you guys are amazing and MUIMUN 2012 is going to be amazing!!!

Despite the ugly weather, we have definitely entered the hot phase on our way to the conference 2012. On 11 February, the Secretary-Generals invited future delegates and members of the MUIMUN team to participate in a first test debate of the Security Council to discuss the human rights situation in Syria.

Of course not in the prospective MUIMUN composition – don’t worry guys, there’s still plenty for you to do! The test debate served as a first dip into MUN waters for those who have never participated in such a crazy thing before and wanted to know what to expect. Now they do and even if no resolution was passed in the end, it looked like a lot of fun for everybody. What could make a better impression of the upcoming conference?

If you had thought that the road to MUIMUN 2012 couldn’t get any better, we are happy to prove you wrong – once again.

We proudly announce that the WWU students parliament offers ten scholarships for students at the University of Münster to participate in MUIMUN! All you have to do is to write a short letter of motivation to our fundraising team (fundraising@muimun.org) until March 4th, explaining why just you deserve the scholarship most. Have you discovered a solution for the financial crisis lately? Have you cured an incurable disease? Do you think the WWU should take you into consideration for becoming the next honorary doctor? You know, stuff like this.

If you receive the scholarship, you will get one of the very rare chances to participate in the conference for free. So, be aware of the honour and now… what are you waiting for?

The search for a Key Note Speaker for MUIMUN 2012 to match up with our patron José Barroso has not been easy, but we are all the happier to have now found one whose practical experience in diplomacy and knowledge of the law of nations distinguishes him as a perfect role model for our delegates.

Dr. Otto Lampe has served in the German diplomatic staff since 1981 and worked at embassies in Brazil, Angola and Portugal as well as for the Senate of the state of Berlin and in different functions for the German Department for Foreign Affairs, where he is currently Commissioner for United Nations Affairs, Humanitarian Help and Human Rights.

We are looking forward very much to receiving him in Münster and hope his speech at our Opening Ceremony will inspire your diplomatic work during MUIMUN 2012!

If MUIMUN were a young lady, you’d probably say she must be uncommonly attractive to have so many suitors. Right now we can proudly announce another happy match: the Deutsche Welle declares itself utterly enraptured by MUIMUN’s charms and therefore offers every team member and every delegate of 2012 – well, not its hand, but the possibility to participate for free in the Global Media Forum 2012, a conference for journalists from all over the world.

The conference will be held from 25th to 27th June 2012 in Bonn and deals with the topic “Culture. Education. Media. – Shaping a Sustainable World”. It offers workshops, exhibitions and plenary discussions. We recommend that all of you who possibly can take this opportunity and participate!

Speaking of being cooperative: we hereby announce that due to great demand the registration deadline for MUIMUN has been extended until February 29th! If you’re still waiting for visa or finance issues to be solved or are reluctant to decide right now whether to participate, you have one month left! However starting now accomodation cannot be guaranteed for unless you pay directly at registration.

Landscape Ecologists are probably not the first ones you’d expect at a MUN conference. But the communication between different areas of research and study is important to any organisation that depends on the exchange of knowledge across faculty borders.

Thus we are glad for the enhancement the Faculty of Landscape Ecology of the University of Münster has recently decided to add to our conference: Not only has Prof. Buttschardt agreed to become a MUIMUN faculty advisor, he has also created a new scholarship which will allow two students of the Faculty of Landscape Ecology of Münster to take part in the conference for free.

Any Münster students of this faculty interested in the scholarship should contact Prof. Buttschardt immediately.

Yesterday evening everybody at MUIMUN was in their finest clothes and best behaviour as we were invited to our University’s New Year Reception. And our team had a very special reason to be in festive spirits: our Alma Mater has distinguished MUIMUN with the Students’ Award of  Münster University!

Our Secretary General Jule Möllmann and Deputy Secretary General Carl-Philipp Sassenrath received the Award to the cheers of the whole team from the hands of Prorector Prof. Dr. Marianne Ravenstein. She lauded MUIMUN for “promoting the cultural understanding of international students and thus contributing to a lively connection between the University and its local, national and international environment”. The Students’ Award is endowed with 7500 €.

We are of course absolutely thrilled and delighted to receive such a strong acknowledgment of the good our work has done to the university and the city of Münster over the past six years. Our thanks go out to all our supporters from the university, the city, businesses and especially Münster’s Lord Mayor Mr. Markus Lewe for supporting our application for the Students’ Award.