Forthcoming Events:

Graduate Workshop - Europe and its Leadership
The Europaeum is co-sponsoring a new three-day graduate workshop with Leiden University focussing on the role of leaders in European politics - yesterday, today and tomorrow.  The event is due to take place in Leiden on November 11 - 13th, 2011. It will pose questions about Europe and Leadership: Does Europe still yearn for new ‘Giants’ to lead it through its crisis ? What is the role for President, Commissioners, Council and Parliament ? What leadership role for Europe in the world ? How has leadership failure contributed to current crises ? Why do some prefer Brussels and others their national politics ? We will also explore - as an underlying research question - how Europe can best secure stability and growth based on rational leadership and decision-making strategies. Click here to download the event Poster

As usual the event will allow 20 leading Europaeum scholars to present their research both to an international forum for discussion and in smaller working groups. Please send indications of interest to the office. Selections will begin at the end of September. All costs are covered apart from travel.

Applications in the form of a CV, a letter of recommendation and a letter of motivation should go to the Europaeum Office, as well as to your local Europaeum Coordinator no later than 12th October, 2011.

2011 Europaeum Classics Colloquium - Helsinki
The theme for the 2011 Classics Colloquium – the tenth in our series – will be Strangers and Friends, hosted by the University of Helsinki on October 21st - 22nd. Classics graduate scholars at member universities of the Europaeum are invited to apply - there are places left for Geneva, Oxford, Bonn and Paris 1 especially - so we can bring young European Classics scholars together with leading academic experts, to present their papers for discussion and critique by fellow scholars. See the Poster for more information.

As usual, the Europaeum accommodations and meals for up to 20 graduates and two or three professors for the whole event - but graduates are responsible for covering their own travel costs (either from departmental 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.

The main deadline for applications is approaching -  September 15 (though if there are quota places free  we can consider later applicants.) Please distribute the event Poster to interested students and scholars.

Please click here to view the Europaeum Diary of Forthcoming Events.....

Programmes:

MA in European History and Civilisation
Applications are now being accepted for the Europaeum’s 2011-2012 MA programme in European History and Civilisation with terms spent at Leiden, Paris and Oxford. This programme offers graduate students a special opportunity to deepen their knowledge of European history and institutions, their philosophical and historical backgrounds and underpinnings, and their social and economic contexts, through the lens of three different university worlds. This knowledge plays an increasingly crucial role in practical decision-making and strategic planning, where Europe-wide and global contact and negotiation is required. For further information, see Application details on our website.

Click here to view the 2009-2010 Matriculations photos. For students view on the course see a summary of results plus a selection of anonymous quotes taken from recent evaluation forms. Also check out an article from the Europaeum Review for additional students' perspectives on the course. 

Please support our recruitment efforts and distribute the attached Poster to students and colleagues and on noticeboards. Please also note the special deadlines for submission: April 1st, 2012, with final deadline June 1st, 2012.

Scholarships and Opportunities:

Oxford-Geneva Bursaries 2012-2013
The Europaeum is continuing its study bursaries scheme - one to support an Oxford graduate to pursue a short study programme at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and one to support a Graduate Institute student to study at Oxford, during the coming academic year.

Appropriate programmes  can include periods of specialist library or archive work; supervisions with desired tutors; taught programmes including specialist summer schools, or field work, including work with organisations based in and around Geneva or Oxford.

Bursary holders are expected to be self-directed, and will need to negotiate their own study arrangements. Advice can be obtained by contacting the Europaeum Secretariat in Oxford, or the Office of the Deputy to the Director in Geneva. Each Bursary is worth €500.

The deadline for submission of applications will be early December 8th. Students from Geneva who wish to apply should contact Dr Laurent Neury; and those from Oxford should contact the University International Office.

Please distribute the Bursary Notice to interested students and colleagues.

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.

If you know anyone who might be interested, please send a CV and covering letter, including details of two referees (preferably one academic and one professional) to the the Europaeum office.

Publications & Media

Europaeum publications
We want to remind colleagues that since our founding - and particularly since the establishment of a permanent Secretariat - the Europaeum has published a number of special reports and booklets derived from our most successful lectures, seminars, and conferences. Please look at the updated website on reports, including reports on the 2001 policy forum on Democracy and the Internet, the 2007 conference on America and Europe: Moving to 2020, and the 2010 conference on Federalisms - East and West, produced scintillating discussions and dialogue that was published and disseminated to our partner universities, as well as libraries and institutes throughout Europe.

We invite you to browse the publication section of the Europaeum website to download all our major publications. Click here to download Europaeum publications

Report of the Month

Oxford-Geneva Scholar Report
As we launch this year's bursaries, please read the reports of the Europaeum's two 2011 Oxford-Geneva study bursaries winners of their time at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and at the University of Oxford. Dany Jaimovich recalls his work at Oxford on social and economic networks in rural Gambia - and how his time in Oxford led directly to an exciting new research post in Germany; while Rebecca Brubaker outlines her work in Geneva  investigating UNHCR policy on population management in Bosnia. Click here to view their reports, as well as our past Oxford-Geneva Scholars !

Link-of-the-Month:

Le Monde Diplomatique - a new European Empire ?
This is an increasing significant source for important intellectual writing and analytics on Europe and worth subscribing too. Thus, we are pleased to note a recent article by Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford, who has a supporter of ours down the years, questioning recent characterizations of the EU as akin to a new "Fourth Reich". At the heart of the argument is the attempt to strengthen financial control by the EU over that of its sovereign member states at the EU summit last month, which apparently favours its largest member-state, Germany. Zielonka discounts this characterization, believing instead that it would be unrealistic to expect Germany to have no say in the course of European events; and that within the context of the EU, Germany is in fact forced into compromise and concession with all member-states. Zielonka goes on to argue that this is by no means equivalent to a new German Empire...

Click here to read to full article

Around the Members:

KRAKOW: Karol Wojtyła remembered

Young scholar, Karol Wojtyła, and older Pope

The Jagiellonian University Rector, Professor Karol Musioł, has recently  unveiled a tablet commemorating the studies of  the young Karol Wojtyła who studied philology in 1938-39 at the University's Faculty of Polish Studies. The Jagiellonian has long wanted to commemorate their outstanding student but in 1981 it was not possible under the Communist regime; and it was not until 1997 that a tablet was unveiled inside and it has now found its rightful place on the outside facade of the main Faculty building. One of those present was a fellow student, Professor Emeritus Tadeusz Ulewicz (94), who got to know the future Pope well. The Jagiellonian got its timing right - with the ceremony taking place just before the official Beatification of Pope John Paul II.

BONN: Altruism may be in our genes
Altruism may - in part at least - be down to our genes, according to new research by experimental psychologists at Bonn University. This could have profound implications for social science research across a range of discipline, most significant perhaps for economists, who are often thought to predicate their work on 'animalistic' or 'self' interests. Professor Martin Reuter at Bonn conducted a study asking participants to memorise a series of numbers, with successful retention leading to a monetary prize. Then participants were asked if they would like to keep the prize - or donate some to charity. Earlier, their genes were screened via a cheek swab, focussing on a single gene known as the COMT gene. This gene occurs in two forms, COMT-Val and COMT-Met, in roughly equal frequency, but those with the  COMT-Val variant donated on average twice as much as those with the COMT-Met variant. Most past studies over the past 15 years have revealed differences that the variants cause in the amount of dopamine, an enzyme that activates messages in the brain. The Bonn study suggests that altruism, is to a degree, something one is born with.

LEIDEN: key role in new global justice institute
Leiden University has played a key part in the launch of the new Hague Institute for Global Justice based in The Hague, where Leiden also has a campus. The much-anticipated Hague Institute, backed with an initial grant of €17.2 million from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, will develop a multidisciplinary perspective in the study of International Relations, and spread knowledge of law and peace to places to areas deprived of such experience. Nico Schrijver, Professor of International Public Law and Director of the Grotius Centre at Leiden has been appointed interim Dean, while Louise Fresco, former Cleveringa Chair, at Leiden and now Vice-Director at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (and Professor at Amsterdam) will also take part in the governance of the new Institute, as will the Chancellor of Oxford, another Europaeum member, Lord (Chris) Patten. Former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, is Chairing its Advisory Board. Click here for more information

Footnote-of-the-Month:

New EU research priorities ?
The European Union's research priorities in its next forthcoming research framework - entitled Horizon 2020 - have been attacked by a leading Oxford University figure for undervaluing the worth of the Arts and Humanities. Professor Shearer West, the new Head of the Humanities Division at Oxford, warned that the proposals were 'too technology-focused' and 'ignored the strength of Europe's creative economy and its tourism and heritage industries'. She was echoing widespread concerns from across the Continent. The EC plans to finalise its proposal for Horizon 2020 by the end of the year. The Europaeum - which by its invention and by its nature - has always focussed on the Arts and Humanities alongside the Social Sciences, invites colleagues to contribute to this vital debate. We can discuss with our representatives on the Board of Trustees and across the Academic Council if we would also like to add our views to this important debate. The UK's Arts and Humanities Council has proposed three new topics or themes - European identities: mobility, diversity and cohesion;  Copyright and creativity in the digital age; and Culture and changing concepts of well-being; while the British Academy has proposed a new challenge, Understanding Europe, which would include research on identity. This last idea is very much the underpinning of the Europaeum itself. For more on this debate see the report in one of August's Times Higher Education issues

Contact:
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Endnote:

Europaeum Founder honoured
We are pleased to note that one of our founding Trustees, Lord Weidenfeld has just been honoured with the inaugural honour, from the annual Media 100 conference being held in Potsdam, in the famous Sansoucci Palace, where Voltaire once roamed as the prized courtier of Frederik the Great. It was George  Weidenfeld who was the first (with Sir Ronald Grierson) approached the University of Oxford in 1991-2 with the idea to set up an intellectual club to ferment European ideas and ideas about Europe. In this sense we are the inheritors of Voltaire's own Republic de Lettres (for an interesting sideline on this see our article in the Europaeum Review by Professor Haydn Mason). The Prize was presented by former Austrian Chancellor, Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel. The annual Media Award went to Chinese dissident blogger Michael Anti, and the opening speech was given by Tunisian human rights activist and journalist Sihem Bensedrine.