Fifty years of the EUI is fifty years of alumni who have carried its ideas, values, and networks far beyond the Fiesolan hills. This event brings together the entire EUI community from the past and the present to reflect on what the Institute has given and what its community continues to offer the world. An afternoon of conference, keynote exchange, and a preview of the exhibition OPEN at Palazzo Buontalenti.
Please note that in-person registration is now closed.
EUI Alumni Association annual conference: 'Geopolitics of knowledge in an increasingly polarised world'
This year's edition of the EUI Alumni Association conference brings together alumni from across cohorts and disciplines to critically examine the shifting landscape of knowledge production at a time of geopolitical tension, democratic backsliding, and cultural polarisation. Contributions span three thematic foci: the geopolitics of knowledge, the state of academic freedom in Europe and beyond, and the effects of rising polarisation on research, higher education, and public debate. Held as part of the EUI's 50th anniversary, the conference offers a space for rigorous exchange on questions that sit at the heart of what the Institute has always stood for.
Alumni podium
The Alumni podium is a moderated conversation bringing together prominent EUI alumni to reflect on the meaning and lasting impact of an EUI education, the professional and intellectual trajectories it has shaped, and the role the alumni community can play as the Institute enters its next half-century.
OPEN - guided preview
Before its official opening later that evening, participants are invited to join guided visits of 'OPEN', the new exhibition at Palazzo Buontalenti. The preview runs throughout the afternoon in parallel with the Alumni Association conference, offering an early encounter with the works on display and with the new cultural space that the EUI is opening to the public as part of its anniversary programme. Visit slots will be communicated upon registration.
Programme
14:00 - 18:00 - In parallel:
EUI Alumni Association annual conference Geopolitics of knowledge in an increasingly polarised world. With a short coffee break at 16:00.
Guided preview of 'OPEN': guided visits of the exhibition and the new exhibition space at Palazzo Buontalenti throughout the afternoon. Visit slots will be communicated upon registration.
18:00–20:00
Alumni podium: a moderated conversation with Siofra O’Leary, Former President of the European Court of Human Rights, EUI Alumna (Cohort 1989)
Speakers (alphabetical order)
- Barbara Caen, EUI Alumni Officer
- Despina Chatzivassiliou, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, EUI alumna (Cohort 1989)
- Francisco de Abreu Duarte, Full-time Assistant Professor, Florence School of Transnational Governance and entrepreneur, EUI Alumnus (Cohort 2019)
- Johanna Mair, EUI Director and Full-time Professor, Florence School of Transnational Governance
- Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Member of the European Parliament, EUI Alumna (Cohort 1992)
- Dario Nardella, Former Mayor of the City of Florence and MEP
- Thomas Kennedy, EUI Alumnus (Cohort 1976)
- Massimiliano Santini, Senior Policy Officer, European Commission, EUI Alumnus (Cohort 2018)