The conference was co-held by USSH (VNU Hanoi), University College Cork (Ireland) and the Embassy of the Republic of Ireland in Vietnam. Up to the day the conference commenced, the Organizing Committee had received nearly 50 articles from domestic and foreign scholars.

In the opening speech, Assoc.Prof.Dr.Dao Thanh Truong (USSH's Vice Rector) summarized the scientific and practical significance of the title of the conference and remarked: our current world provides many potentials but at the same time plenty of risks; therefore, the aspiration for security, safety and development is pursued by many countries, including Vietnam. The Vice Rector highly appreciated the cooperation between the Faculty of International Studies (of USSH) and Irish Aid Foundation (Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam) in organizing these conferences. At the same time, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Dao Thanh Truong mentioned the central role of the University in promoting social sciences and humanities, hoping that its training units would continue to promote that advantage and organize more meaningful conferences.

The conference was chaired and moderated by two lecturers from the Faculty of International Studies: Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh and Dr. Le Lena and divided into 2 sessions with 7 presentations by domestic and foreign experts. The first presentation was an introductory, evocative paper titled "Sustainability Science" by Dr. Drogoul Alexis - Representative of Institute de Recherche pour le Dévelopment (France) in Vietnam.

The 1st session then followed with 3 papers by non-Vietnamese scholars: (i) “The Non – Traditional Security Term and How Development Cooperation Can Support” by Dr. Sebastian Paust (Dr. Sebastian Paust, Head of Development Cooperation, Embassy of Germany, Hanoi); (ii) “The nexus of food, water and energy security: processes and advances” by Dr. John Ward (Dr. John Ward - Mekong Region Futures Institute, Laos) and (iii) “Migration, social inclusion and impact of Covid-19” by Dr. Edward Lahiff (presented on behalf of the group of authors: Dr. Edward Lahiff (UCC, Ireland), Prof.Dr Pham Quang Minh, MA. Nguyen Trong Chinh (USSH)).

The 2nd session also featured 3 papers from  Vietnamese scholars: (i) "Normative Power in Asia Pacific" by Dr. Le Lena (Faculty of International Studies); (ii) “World Order in the Context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” by Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung (Institute of World Economy and Politics) and (iii) “China’s Choice? Adjustment in China’s External Security Strategy in the Xi JingPing Era" by Dr. Hoang Hue Anh (Institute of Chinese Studies).

After each presentation, the presenters received questions and directly answered them. Despite being online, the interaction between presenters and participants continued in a lively fashion for the entire 5 hours.  
 

Concluding the consequence, Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh highly appreciated the enthusiasm and sharing by all 7 presenters. According to Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh, the selected presentations managed to closely link theory with practice. Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh reiterated the importance of the relationship between security and development in a world driven by a new and unpredictable context, and affirmed that the future of the world depends on the countries themselves. In particular, countries need to focus more on cooperation and promote multilateralism. Furthermore, global organizations such as the United Nations or regional organizations such as the EU and ASEAN need to further strengthen cohesion, cooperation and sharing to create a safe world for mankind, taking international law as the standard for development.