Vol. 3 No. 3 (2025): CONNECT 2025 - Building the Knowledge Society Across Borders

This is the first special issue of AIDASCO Reviews and is dedicated to the CONNECT 2025 Conference, which was held from August 25–29, 2025, in Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

CONNECT 2025 brought together students, early-career researchers, and academics from the Western Balkans and connected them with collaborators from Germany, Croatia, Turkey, and Hungary. The conference fostered dialogue, cooperation, and knowledge exchange, contributing to the strengthening of the European Research Area (ERA) and the broader accessibility of knowledge.

This special issue features selected contributions, reflections, and outcomes from CONNECT 2025, highlighting the active role of students and young researchers as key drivers of integration, open science, and regional collaboration.

Aligned with the ERA Policy Agenda, CONNECT 2025 addressed several central themes, including:

• open science, research careers, and gender equality;

• digital transition, with a particular emphasis on the role of artificial intelligence;

• widening participation, as well as Twinning and COST programes, as effective bridges of excellence between regions.