Forthcoming Events:

2012 Europaeum Summer School
Top speakers announced for the 2012 Summer School event in Oxford on Conflict Resolution within Europe will include Professors Richard Caplan and Neil Macfarlane from the Politics and International Relations Department at Oxford; and Sir David Madden (former UK ambassador to Cyprus); the head of Conciliation Resources which works in all major hotspots building peace; Alain Servantie (advisor in European President Mr Barroso's Office), and many others.

The annual Europaeum Summer School has become our flagship event, and this year will focus on the complexities of European conflict, including peace-keeping, intervention, alliance-building, and victim support, over recent decades - for example reviewing lessons from the crises in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, the Basque region, the Caucuses 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.

Places are filling up fast - but please apply as soon as possible. The final closing date will be July 30th. 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 need to be covered).

Click here for more details, including how to apply for a place at the 2012 Europaeum Summer School.

International Conference and Graduate Seminar
The Europaeum is co-sponsoring an international conference and linked graduate seminar organised by the School of Political Science, University of Bologna in collaboration with the Bologna Center of SAIS, Johns Hopkins University on the topic America: Still a European power?

The seminar will bring a historical perspective to the present phase of European-American relations. Questions will include, should Europe continue to depend on its main ally on the other side of the Atlantic ? What is the state of US-Europe relations today ? Have Europeans been naive in projecting idealistic dreams on Obama ? Can the wounds of Iraq be healed ? What is the impact on the relationship from new challenges from the East ? Has Obama switched attention away from Europe ? What are the challenges for the future ?

Key note speakers will include Alex Smolar, President of the Stefan Batory Foundation, Warsaw and Philip Stephens, Chief Political Commentator at the Financial Times. This seminar will coincide with the publication of The Shock of America. Europe and the Challenge of the Century (OUP) by Professor David Ellwood of Bologna University, the conference convener.

Please respond via e-mail with letter of application, a short CV (max. 2 pages), and a support letter from your supervising professor to the Europaeum Office. Please also disseminate the event Poster to interested students and colleagues.

See also our Europaeum Diary of Forthcoming Events in 2012

Programmes:

2012 Europaeum Classics Colloquium
The theme for the 2012 Classics Colloquium will be Leadership in the Ancient World: Odium or wisdom ? hosted by the University of Oxford from November 16-18th. 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. Please note that the Colloquium deadline for initial applications is October 1st 2012.

Check out our website for more information, or download the event Poster and pass on to interested students and colleagues!

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

Europaeum Research Project Groups
The Europaeum has stimulated new international research collaboration within and beyond its academic community through its Research Project Group (EPRG) scheme. Small project grants enable groups to run a research seminar or workshop, co-ordinate a research proposal bid, carry out research preparation, or make bids to the European Union and other funding bodies. The ERPG scheme began in 2000, and has since sponsored over twleve different groups, including the European Economic Integration (2002-2009), Liberalism in the 20th Century (2002-2007), Cultural Difference in Europe (2005- ), and European Political Concepts (2006- ). Click here to learn more about the EPRG scheme.

The Europaeum on Facebook
Are you on facebook? Have you been to one of our events? Then please 'like' our Europaeum Programmes facebook page for regular updates on our activities.

Report of the Month

Arab Spring - One year on
The Graduate Research Workshop on Arab Spring - One Year On took place in Paris, on 22nd and 23rd March 2012. It focused on the future ahead for what has become the outstanding news phenomenon of 2011. The workshop aimed at assessing the impact and future of the Arab Spring, one year after it began. Participants were invited to exchange their views and share their ideas for the future. Questions included: Where is the Arab Spring leading? How much more momentum does it have? What similarities and differences are there between each country involved? What is the role of state armies? What are the implications for other neighbours such as Israel or Iran? What role should Europe play? Click here to read the report from this stimulating event!

Link-of-the-Month:

The Institute of Cultural Diplomacy
The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) is an international organization with the goal to promote global peace and stability by strengthening and supporting intercultural relations at all levels. Over the past decade the ICD has grown to become one of Europe’s largest independent cultural exchange organizations, hosting programs that facilitate interaction among individuals of all cultural, academic, and professional backgrounds, from across the world.

Among the many programs organised by the ICD, the Young Leaders Forums have become an excellent way for young students, scholars, and professionals who share an interest in developing, supporting and sustaining intercultural relations to connect through sustainable networks fostered by the ICD. These Forums provide a platform for the next generation of leaders to explore the potential of organized cultural exchange in the international environment and to use the networks they become part of to organize their own leadership initiatives. Organised all year-round, the next Young Leaders Forum on Cultural Diplomacy in Europe takes place in Vienna from July 17th- 20th. For more information, please see the ICD website.

Around the Members:

MADRID: new rector at Complutense
Professor José Carrillo Menéndez is completing his first year as Rector of the Complutense. He was born in Paris where his father, Santiago Carrillo, a Communist leader was exiled to Paris after Franco’s victory in 1939. He obtained a PhD in mathematics from University of Paris VI, before joining Complutense as an assistant professor, and by 1988, he had become Professor of Applied Mathematics. He has published nearly 40 articles - the most cited being Entropy Solutions for Nonlinear Degenerate Problems’ (1999) in the journal Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis. He is keen to pursue educational innovation projects while working in academic administration and organization. He was Dean responsible for Library development (1986-1990), and head of the Applied Mathematics department (1994-95), Dean of of Mathematical Sciences (1995-2003) implementing a new curriculum. In 2000 he was the Madrid chairman organizing the UNESCO World Year of Mathematics. Until his election as Rector, succeeding Professor Carlos Berzosa Alonso-Martínez he continued to work in student welfare and educational innovation. He pledged last year to boost the international standing of the Complutense and to develop its international relations - which includes working with the Europaeum, which the Complutense joined in 2003.

PRAGUE: students oppose tuition fees
Czech university students and employees appear to have beaten back current Government proposals to cut university budgets, introduce new tuition fees, promote links with the private sector, and reduce levels of student participation on university committees. There have been a series of protest over recent weeks against higher education reforms proposed by the now former Education Minister. Last month, the new Education Minister, Petr Fiala, a Political Scientist, and former Rector of Masaryk University in Brno, decided to put these reforms plans on ice. Professor Fiala has now offered to negotiate with universities - he himself is former chairman of the Conference of Czech Rectors - to come up with fresh plans. However, the Government is already committed to austerity measures which mean significant university budget cuts - and the money has to be made good in some form. The minister himself remains a proponent of some level of student entrance fees - which it is feared is bound to deter applicants from lower-income families. While students and colleagues from Charles University breath a sigh of relief, it is clear this saga will run further in the autumn. Click here to read more about this

OXFORD: Arab Spring under the microscope
Three members of the Middle East Centre, linked to St Antony's College, at Oxford University have just published books which give new insights into the so-called Arab Spring, its antecedents, its impact, and its consequences on the region. First Dr Michael Willis, lecturer in Moroccan and Mediterranean Studies, authored Politics and Power in the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from Independence to the Arab Spring (C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd), examining political movements in the Maghreb region from European colonial rule to present-day unrest, and relations of the region to rest of the world. Professor Avi Shlaim, professor of International Relations, has written The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Origins and Consequences. Professor Shlaim served as discussant on a recent Europaeum Lecture on The Middle East and the Challenges for International Law given in Oxford by Professor Vera Gowlland-Debbas from the Graduate Institute, Geneva.

Finally Professor Tariq Ramadan, a visiting professor at Oxford, has written The Arab Awakening: Islam and the new Middle East (Allen Lane), arguing that the tension in the region is about much more than the struggles between the secular and Islamic approaches. Ramadan asks what historical legacy the Arab Spring will leave behind. Professor Ramadan gave a Europaeum Lecture in Krakow titled Muslims: Finding their right place in Europe.

Footnote-of-the-Month:

Yavlinksy barred from Russian election
Dr Grigory Yavlinsky's reformist liberal politician in Russia - who gave a lively Europaeum Lecture in Oxford in 2002, attended by more than 220 people - was recently banned from running in the recent presidential elections in Russia. Russia’s Central Election Commission deemed some of the signatures that he had collected in his bid to stand in the election as 'fakes' or 'copies' of originals. In Russia, all independent candidates who wish to compete in presidential elections are forced to collect a mere 2 million signatures, before they can officially register - allowing plenty of scope for 'official scrutiny'. Dr Yavlinksy's appeal was turned down by the Election commission. Meanwhile, Dr. Yavlinsky, the only genuinely liberal challenger to stand in the election, vowed to continue his fight for political reform. His book, published in 2011 by Yale press - Realeconomik: The Hidden Cause of the Great Recession (And how to avert the Next One) - see http://www.amazon.com/Realeconomik-Hidden-Cause-Great-Recession/dp/0300159102.

In his book Dr Yavlinksy examines why economic crises continue to occur, when politicians, scholars and business leaders, all seem to claim to understand what leads to such crises. He reveals "the widespread disregard for moral values in business decisions" and goes on to call for "the restoration of principled behaviour in politics and economic practices”. For further information on Dr. Yavlinsky and his ideas see his website: http://www.yavlinsky.ru/english/index.phtml

Contact:
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Endnote:

A friend of European thinking
It is with due regret that we say goodbye to a friend and supporter, Sir Michael Palliser , who passed away peacefully at the age of 90 on June 20th. Sir Michael was a somewhat rare British diplomat, whose outstanding service helped pave the way towards the Common Market.

From serving in the War, Sir Michael became deeply committed to post-war reconstruction and the European Project. As a senior UK diplomat he had a hand in shaping the British stance towards the emergent EU, following his masters' voices but gently guiding us towards entry. He was at once sympathetic to the mission behind the Europaeum - and keenly participated in our 2010 international conference on Federalisms - East and West: India, Europe, and North America, where he gave a stirring address on the need to strengthen UK ties to Europe. This is well worth reading again so please click here to read his moving address.

Over a distinguished 50 year period of service from 1947, Sir Michael was Head of the Policy Planning Staff, Private Secretary to the PM, served as Britain's man in Paris and Brussels and Head of the Diplomatic Service 1975-82 . In 1982, he was Special Adviser to Mrs Thatcher during the Falklands war. Later he was appointed a member of the Privy Council and worked in banking, becoming Chairman of Samuel Montagu 1984–93, and was privately critical of recent banking behaviour. Click here to read a full Obituary in The Guardian, and here for one in The Telegraph.