July 2022 - EUROSUD - South European Studies

𝐌𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 - 𝐙𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐆𝐡𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐢

Hi, I am Zine from Algeria, a second-year student at the University of Glasgow as part of the EUROSUD program. Currently, I am working on my thesis at Aix Marseille University and doing my internship with the Middle East Institute, a think tank based in Washington.

This program has been an enriching journey, both professionally and personally. I was fortunate enough to study in Glasgow, Madrid and Marseille amidst the covid-19 pandemic. This constant mobility was a meaningful discovery process that helped me to sharpen my research skills, learn from different people and cultures and build an international and adaptative profile. Without forgetting The EUROSUD experience itself which has been an incredible chance for personal growth and professional projection.

For now, I focus on dynamics in North Africa at MEI and collaborate with projects on Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. In that sense, work has been involving policy memos, briefs and roundtable discussions, which is rewarding for quantitative and qualitative research and interpersonal abilities. Moreover, the pace and variety of topics covered are illuminating on regional issues ranging from energy security and economic reforms to diplomatic tensions. It is also a useful push to move beyond my comfort zone, understand the region better and contribute to its development in a constructive manner. This professional experience reasserted my belief in the necessity of programs like EUROSUD and the valuable package they offer to us, youth.

The journey has so far changed my vision of things, challenged my assumptions and granted me the tools to build a wider Mediterranean perspective. I certainly appreciate the possibility of working with a diligent team and expanding my network while following my passion of international relations. For that, the EUROSUD pathway served as a great preparation phase and most importantly as a remarkable transformation opportunity.

by Carol Cairney

Clotilde attends European and International Human Rights Standards in Disaster Settings Course

Hi everyone, my name is Clotilde, and I am an -almost- second-year EUROSUD student. With this blog I would like to share my recent experience at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in Pisa, Italy. There, I had the great opportunity to attend a five days intensive advanced training course about European and International Human Rights Standards in Disaster Settings, within the Jean Monnet Module.

Spending a week at the Scuola was for me a great chance from many perspectives. Indeed, the Scuola is internationally well known and distinguished for its high ranking and education of excellence provided to its “allievi” (students). Among the courses provided, the Scuola also offers intensive advanced training courses, open to postgraduate and PhD students, and practitioners. In fact, during this very intense week I had the pleasure to interact and grow in an inspiring and motivating environment, in which knowledge, passion and curiosity are palpable and constant during lectures, debates and other activities, also outside the classrooms. I am so grateful to have had the great chance to meet brilliant colleagues, lecturers and practitioners that, by providing a very insightful and enriching perspective on the topics treated, also helped me enlarge my network, knowing more possibilities of carrier and, most importantly, got me to know this fundamental topic and its multiple shades and shapes.

As previously mentioned, the course I followed is named European and International Human Rights Standards in Disaster Settings. In general, the course aimed to provide a legal perspective on disaster management activities and, consequently, the fundamental role of human rights in the prevention and response to natural and technological disasters. More specifically, the five days were organised to give, for each macro topic, a deep and complete overview of the issue.
After a first-day introduction, we were guided into a deep understanding process of the International, Disaster and Human Rights Laws. Indeed, this represents a fundamental basis to further discuss and develop more specific focuses on the topic, such as the actors involved in humanitarian assistance and disaster management. Furthermore, the protection issues related to the impact that natural and technological disasters bring were also treated with specific regard to children and migrants, the most vulnerable and fragile categories of the society.
Moreover, an interesting and relevant focus was dedicated to how climate change has recently been affecting the world and society, highlighting the increase of disasters during the last decade, indicative of a radical change that should quickly and efficiently happen in the next years.

Happy and satisfied with the experience I had, I now feel more confident and complete in the knowledge of such important topics. During this intense and enriching week, the Scuola gave us the incredible chance to be directly in touch with the representatives and researchers in the field of disaster setting and human rights; this helped me to understand how human rights protection and disasters are connected and how they are simultaneously becoming urgent and challenging. The need to intervene and grant dignity, freedom and life to all human beings is now, more than ever, a priority.

by Carol Cairney