Posted on 15 June 2018
The twentieth European University Institute Conferring Ceremony took place at the Badia Fiesolana on 15 June 2018 at 15:00. Over ninety Ph.D. and LL.M. graduates received their degrees.
Renaud Dehousse, President of the EUI, welcomed the graduates, reminding them that the privilege of having been able to enjoy long years of study implies a responsibility both for intellectual honesty, but also for solidarity with those with fewer opportunities to learn, and those for whom academic autonomy and freedom are under threat.
Professor Michael Ignatieff - President and Rector of the Central European University, Budapest, delivered the keynote address. He expressed his gratitude to the EUI for its continued solidarity towards the CEU, and focused on freedom, the importance of being a free person and the importance of thinking for oneself. 'You're on your own,' he said. 'Never settle, and never settle down.'
This year’s Honoris Causa recipients were Kathleen Thelen, Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT and President of the American Political Science Association (APSA), and Jürgen Osterhammel, former Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Konstanz, Germany.
Professor Thelen’s Laudatio was given by Anton Hemerijck, Professor of Political Science and Sociology and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the EUI. Professor Thelen ‘has made a deep and lasting impact’ on political science research, Professor Hemerijck said.
Lucy Riall, Professor of History of Europe in the World in the Department of History and Civilization, delivered Professor Osterhammel’s Laudatio, whom she described as a ‘pioneer in the field of global history’ and ‘Angela Merkel’s favourite historian.’
Doctor Honoris Causa Professor Jürgen Osterhammel, UNIFI Rector Professor Luigi Dei, Doctor Honoris Causa Professor Kathleen Thelen, Rector of the CEU Professor Michael Ignatieff, and EUI President Professor Renaud Dehousse
In addition, four special prizes were given out at the ceremony, to celebrate exceptional research across the Institute’s four departments. The James Kaye Memorial Prize for the Best Doctoral Thesis in History and Visuality was awarded to Cloe Cavero de Carondelet; the Linz-Rokkan Prize in Political Sociology was awarded to Juan Masullo Jiménez; the Mauro Cappelletti Prize for the Best Thesis in Comparative Law was awarded to Zane Rasnača; the Vilfredo Pareto Prize for the Best Doctoral Thesis in Economics was awarded to Andresa Lagerborg, who also delivered a salute to the graduates.
Conferring Ceremony Programme
Watch the ceremony