Forthcoming Events:

Brussels Policy-Making Graduate Seminar
JUNE 18-20th: The Europaeum's fifth annual Policy-Making inside Europe ? graduate seminar in Brussels, organised in conjunction with our associate member the Institute of Political Studies, Catholica University of Portugal (IEP-UCP), is set to take place later this month. This three-day programme of talks, with discussions, interviews and special visits with top European policy-makers in Brussels, is again being organised with our , and includes visits to the European Parliament (EP) and NATO. Topics include Is Capitalism at Stake?; Economics and Political Future of Europe; EU harmonisation approaches: Directives, Regulations or secondary law regimes; From Arab Spring to Arab Autumn?; and, The EU and the BRICs.

There are only a few places left for graduates and postgraduates from member universities. Please send an application letter and CV, with a supporting recommendation from your Supervisor as soon as possible to be considered. Participants must cover their own travel and contribute c€50 towards a special banquet held in the European Parliament (optional). Please see the Programme for more details

Lisbon International Debate and Political Forum
JUNE 25-27th: As Greece teeters and economists worry about contagion, this year's annual debate for Europaeum students is on theme of Do we still need the € ? Four Europaeum graduates are invited to take part in the debate in front of 200 participants attending the Political Forum on Open Societies, Open Economies and Common Identities at the Institute of Political Studies at the Catholica University of Portugal (IEP-UCP). The Forum brings together distinguished speakers, scholars, policy-makers, businessmen, opinion leaders, journalists and a multi-national collection of students to engage in the most topical issues of the day. This year the Europaeum will also hold its annual Academic Council during the event so that more Europaeum academics can also take part. Click here to browse a preliminary conference Programme. Interested conference participants should apply using this application form.

Click here for details for this debate, or contact the Europaeum Office directly.

Conference on Multiculturalism
JUNE 25-26th: The Europaeum is supporting sponsor of an upcoming conference organised by Fritt Ord and the New York Review of Books Foundation on Challenges to Multiculturalism: a conference on migration, citizenship, and free speech. The conference will take place in Oslo, Norway, and is free and open to the public. Speakers at the conference include Jørgen Carling, Research Director, Peace Research Insitute (Oslo); Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy (Princeton); Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European History (Oxford), Jeremy Waldron, Professor of Social and Political Theory (Oxford); Ronald Dworkin, Professor of Philosophy and Law (New York University); and Robert Badinter, former French Minister of Justice. Dr Erhard Busek one of the Europaeum's Trustees will represent the association at this important conference, and we hope that a Finnish professor will also join the event as a second representative. Themes to explored include: The Varieties of Migration; Multiculturalism in Europe: Policies and Conflicts; Concepts of Multiculturalism – and Cosmopolitanism; and, Multiculturalism and Human Rights. Click here to view the full programme

For more information and to register for this event, please contact nyrb@fritt-ord.no

See also our Europaeum Diary of Forthcoming Events in 2012

Programmes:

2012 Europaeum Summer School
Our flagship event, the annual summer school, will this year focus on the complexities of European conflict, including peace-keeping, intervention, alliance-building, and victim support, looking at Conflict Resolution within Europe over recent decades - for example in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, the Basque region and the Balkans. The summer school will bring together academic experts, practitioners, reporters, from the field, policy-makers and journalists, to provide a variety of perspectives on such conflict scenarios as Northern Ireland, the Basque region, and the Balkans. Speakers include professor Richard Caplan (Oxford) and Sir David Madden (former ambassador to Cyprus), the head of Conciliation, Alain Servantie (from Mr Barroso's Office), while invited include Sir Adam Roberts, Guy-Goodwin-Gill, Robert Harris, Andrew Hurrell, Mark Malloch-Brown, David Trimble, Peter Hain, and Robert Fox etc.

Among questions to be discussed are the following: What factors predispose people to discord? Which strategies extract them from chronic cycles of strife and violence? How can Europe aid post-conflict state building which aims to prevent outbreaks from recurring? What does the future hold for NATO, and what problems face the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy? What lessons has Europe learned about conflict resolution and prevention? How, if at all, have European institutions contributed to spreading peace?

Please note that all costs are covered for Europaeum graduates, though participants must cover their own travel costs. (A few places may be available for non-Europaeum scholars, but basic accommodation, food and office costs will then need to be covered).

Click here for more details, including how to apply for a place at the 2012 Europaeum Summer School. Contact the Europaeum Office for more information and to submit applications. Applications will be accepted until mid-July at the latest - so please apply today!

2012 Europaeum Classics Colloquium
The theme for the 2012 Classics Colloquium will be The trials and tribulations of leadership in  ancient times: any lessons for today ? hosted by the University of Oxford in mid-November. Now in its eleventh year, the Europaeum Classics Colloquium brings together graduate students and leading scholars from member universities to present papers for discussion and critique by fellow scholars. Expert professors from Bologna, Paris I-Sorbonne, Geneva, and Oxford are expected to take part. 

As usual, the Europaeum will provide accommodation and meals for up to 20 graduates for the duration of the Colloquium. Individuals are responsible for covering their own travel costs (either from their department or from other sources). Applicants are asked to submit a 100-word abstract, CV, and recommendation from at least one of their academic advisors to the Office as soon as possible. All papers must be in English. Senior scholars from Europaeum universities will be contacted directly. Contact the Europaeum Office for more information and to submit applications.

Scholarships and Opportunities:

Europaeum Internships
The value of internships for graduate students has recently been endorsed as a key component for students entering the job market, according to University World News. The Europaeum has proudly offered lively internships to graduate students, doctoral candidates and post-doctoral scholars from Europaeum universities for a number of years. We are committed to providing engaging and fruitful work experience - with opportunities to pursue research studies in Oxford libraries, join lectures etc and travel in the UK. In this way, we seek to extend the mission of the Europaeum to build European leadership, foster diversity and provide opportunities to supplement research and background education.

We offer internships for one to three months, and each intern will be asked to support general office work, work on current events and will be given a relevant research project to work on and help develop. We will help in finding housing and cover the costs, as part of a support package also for food and travel.

Interns for Fall 2012 are now being selected. If you know anyone who might be interested, please ask them to forward a CV and covering letter, including details of two referees (preferably one academic and one professional) to the Europaeum office.

Publications & Media

A student's perspective on The Arab Spring - one year on...
The Europaeum's recent graduate workshop on The Arab Spring One Year on: What next ?, saw 20 students from across our network - and over 100 participants in attendance for the opening sessions - convene at hosted in Paris to take stock of developments in the Arab world, a year on; and to look ahead, with the focus especially on two key pioneers for change - Tunisia and Egypt. One of the students, Ana Cláudia Manuelito from our associate member the Institute of European Politics at the Catholic University of Portugal, presented a fascinating paper on "The Arab Spring and Maritime Security in the Mediterranean Sea – a moment to think about cooperation and solidarity", in which she argues for the need to cooperate and maintain strong links to promote great maritime security, rather than "close our minds and borders." Click here to read her presentation online

Report of the Month

European Law conference in Prague
Last month, the Europaeum co-sponsored an international conference on The Ideas of Prevention in European Law at Charles University, Prague. The aim of the conference was to explore the somewhat ambiguous and multipurpose concept of "Prevention in Law". Participants from across Europe took part, including Professors Willem van Boom (Rotterdam, Durham), Luboš Tichý (Prague), Eduard Picker (Tübingen), Gerhard Wagner (Bonn), Helmut Koziol (Vienna), and Dr. Donal Nolan (Oxford), as well as many local academics, judges, lawyers and research students, who contributed to spirited debates at the end of each of the three sessions. Click here to read to the full conference report

Link-of-the-Month:

Round Table focus on the environment...
With just weeks before Rio+20 kicks off as another opportunity to focus on climate change and environmental issues, the themes that featured in our recent graduate workshop in Paris, are picked up in the current issue of the Round Table journal, - said to be the oldest continuous academic journal. The special Spring issue looks particularly on environmental governance with articles on the UN as a specialised agency covering this theme; the challenge of Governance of Seas, Oceans and Fisheries; Biodiversity and Climate Change; Forest Governance and our common future in the Artic. All the back catalogue of the Round Table - which is the journal of the international affairs of the Commonwealth are now online - which provides fascinating insight into colonialism and post-colonialism, as well as globalisation through the prism of the UK and its legacy around the world. The Commonwealth has been growing in recent years - with Mozambique, a Portuguese colony joining, and, most recently, Rwanda. Given that more than 30 of its 55 members are also classifiable as small states, there much is about how small states can manage in a world where bigger states are now counting for ever more. This speaks to the experiences of small states such as Cyprus, the Baltics, Finland and others within the EU - still heavily dependent on the trio of Britain, France and of course Germany! Click here to learn more

Around the Members:

KRAKOW: new Jagiellonian rector
The Jagiellonian has just elected a new Rector, Professor Wojciech Nowak, currently vice-rector of the Collegium Medicum of the University in Krakow. He received his doctorate from the university’s medical faculty in 1982, and is the author or co-author of 133 publications, and three monographs, and has participated in almost 300 major conferences. He was also elected President of the European Society of Surgery in 2010. Professor Nowak, who is 64,  takes over in late September from the current rector, Professor Karol Musioł, who has been a good friend of the Europaeum, supporting many initiatives and sitting on the former European Council for almost six years, and hosting the Council in Krakow in 2008.

In his inaugural remarks, Professor Nowak declared that he will focus on encouraging innovation and modernizing the University so that it can face the challenges of 21st century. The new Rector believes in a more open and interdisciplinary approach that will allow students to take courses at faculties other than their own. He announced the simplification of administrative system and limiting bureaucracy. The new Rector also stressed  that he wants to make  'the internationalisation of the University' one of his top priorities. This would entail more international degrees, more courses taught in English, more international PhD programmes, and also a new Diplomatic Academy were mentioned specifically.

The Jagiellonian University was recently rated as the best in Poland, according to the latest ranking by “Perspektywy” magazine and “Rzeczpospolita” daily newspaper.

PRAGUE: new Jewish Studies centre
Academics at Charles University have set up a new Centre for Jewish Studies  bringing together experts in history, religion, culture, literature and philosophy all related to promoting teaching and research of Jewish traditions in Central Europe. The Centre, co-ordinated by Dr. Marcela Zoufalá of the University Faculty of Arts,  is planning a series of activities including an October conference on Jewish Studies in the 21st Century: Prague-Europe-World, plus a series of workshops on The Shoah in Central European Literature, Theatre and Film.  In  2013 an event to  mark the 400th anniversary of the death of David Gans, a prominent Prague historian and scholar of Jewish descent is planned. For more information see http://pcjs.ff.cuni.cz/en/about

OXFORD: Peter Mandelson on Britain and the Eurozone
As the clamour for greater fiscal and political union across the Eurozone grows, the UK, currently somewhat adrift is having its own debates about where best to situate itself. An important contribution came from Peter Mandelson, former European Commissioner and Business Minister who gave the annual University of Oxford Hands lecture attached to Mansfield College, on Britain and the survival of the European project on last month. Mr Mandelson, who has been a keen supporter of the Europaeum, was speaking as President of the Policy Network think tank. He set out why Britain’s future role in Europe will require a fundamental reassessment if the eurozone is salvaged and survives. He warned that a Britain that rules out ever joining the euro may be ruling out a future at the heart of the EU - and he called therefore for the UK to consider an EU referendum in the near future, asking people what form they believe this relationship should take. Click here to view the lecture online

Footnote-of-the-Month:

Complutense coping with student protests
Waves of student protests against stringent cuts on university and school budgets, hit more than 50 Spanish cities last month - including Madrid, home of the Complutense University. Thousands of students, academics and teachers  are angry at government cuts of €3,000 m cuts which will mean raising university fees by 15 - 25 %, and expanding classes by a fifth.  Students who have to repeat a year face fees up by  30-  40 % more, while repeating a second time would pay 65 - 75 % more, with fees continuing to increase further for any additional repeats. The protests coincided with the four days of protests from the Indignados movement - marking its first anniversary - against massive youth unemployment, among the highest rates across Europe, more than one in three without work - and on May 22nd there was a whole education sector strike. Against this background Complutense has been forced into many stringent cuts - including in its international work. However, the new Rector José Carrillo Menéndez has pledged his wish to maintain the Complutense's international relationships and to push up its academic reputation despite the cuts. The Europaeum is pleased therefore to announce the Complutense is once again active with the Europaeum association - and two of its students - Pedro ABELLÁN and Alba DE LA CRUZ -  joined our the recent Oxford graduate workshop on Rousseau and traditions of European republicanism .   We look forward to further participation - despite the crisis - with the Complutense and our colleagues in the FOM.

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Endnote:

Bologna escapes its earthquake - just about ! 
Many of you will have noticed recent reports of a earthquake just north of Bologna. We are pleased to report, though, there were no discernible  repercussions on our partner University's buildings and activities. Residents in the nearby Modena region have been facing tremors and many hundreds had to vacate their houses - and face a period of uncertainty. Unusually, there were at least three follow-up tremors. In all estimates suggest the quake caused some €5 million euros damage, though this figure is expected to rise. I can report that school children of some university colleagues were collecting funds at school to help victims. News also came through that one group badly hit, were manufacturers of the world-famous Parmesan cheese - essential for the discerning pasta consumer ! In fact, it turned out a short-run bonus for locals, as Parmesan cheese stocks were sold off at discount to empty the storage sheds quickly, so that any necessary restoration work could be carried out and cheese supplies will then be restocked. But with a hiatus, prices of this 'essential' are set to spiral upwards. But then spaghetti bolognese without Parmesan is, well, unthinkable !