Past Events

Dr. Chris Bannister is visiting Pitt as a Summer Research Scholar to conduct research using the Barbara Sloan European Union Document Collection on the UK's application for membership in the EC over the period 1968 to 1973. He received a master’s and doctorate in History and Civilization from the European University Institute. He also has a BA and a Master of Letters in History from Newcastle University. He served as a Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Manchester from 2017 to 2019. Since 2019 he has been the EU Research Coordinator in the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) of the government of the United Kingdom, where he oversees numerous projects looking at the contemporary European Union and its relationship with the UK.

The annual Brussels-Lux Study Tour is a week-long opportunity for educators across the U.S. to learn more about the European Union. With funding from the EU Delegation and the U.S. Department of Education, K-12 educators and faculty teaching at community colleges and minority-serving institutions (Title III- or Title V-eligible) are able to gain first-hand knowledge and experiences to further their understanding of Europe and the European Union. Visits to EU institutions and other organizations provide an inside look at the issues facing Europe and the EU. Educators also participate in a day-trip to Luxembourg to visit the European Court of Justice.

Abstract: Brexit has had enormous implications for political relationships within and between Ireland, the UK and the EU respectively. In this presentation, Prof Muiris MacCarthaigh of Queen’s University Belfast examines developments in these relationships since the 2016 referendum that resulted in the UK’s departure from the European Union, the current impasse over the 'Protocol', and the future of governance arrangements across these jurisdictions. Bio: Prof Muiris MacCarthaigh is Professor of Politics and Public Policy and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queens University Belfast. His research engages with a variety of debates within and between political science, public sector governance and public policy, and with a particular focus on the Irish case. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Group for Public Administration, visiting Full Professor at the Geary Institute for Public Policy at University College Dublin, and Northern Ireland lead for the International Public Policy Observatory (www.theippo.co.uk)

Join us and celebrate Hungarian culture through local history and food. Representatives of Hungary related organizations and resources, both on and off campus, will provide remarks on the Hungarian Nationality Room, Hungary related material in the Pitt archives, and the vibrant history of Pittsburgh's Hungarian community. Remarks: Kati Csoman, Director, Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs Jonathan Naser, Chair, Hungarian Nationality Room Committee Viktoria Batista, Associate Professor of Hungarian, LCTL Éva Lovra, Hungarian Fulbright Visiting Professor Clare Withers, University of Pittsburgh Library System Dan Pennell, University of Pittsburgh Library System Katherine Novak, Chair, Board of National Directors, William Penn Association Judy Torma, Owner, Huszar Restaurant

For more than three decades, the European Union has been recognised as a world leader in the fight against global warming and climate change. Climate policy has become a dominant issue on the EU's environmental agenda and has gradually been integrated into other policy areas, most notably energy policy. In terms of climate and energy policy, the EU has developed the most advanced and comprehensive regulatory framework in the world, which includes both EU-wide policies and targets to be achieved by Member States. Taken together, these policies and targets serve to advance the energy transition – a process aimed at transforming Europe's energy sector from fossil fuel-based to zero-carbon, mainly through the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. However, the process is uneven in the different Member States. This lecture will present the development of European climate and energy policy, in the context of global climate politics. It will also illustrate different trajectories for the development of renewable energy policies, comparing two different case studies: Poland and Germany. Finally, it will discuss the current challenges of further developing the energy transition in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, recently stated that “the American dream can be achieved best in the Nordic countries.” For many who consider the economic and social mobility of the American Dream to belong uniquely to the United States, it can be surprising and illustrative to learn that other countries may have found better strategies for helping their citizens realize them. Focusing on Norway as a representative example of the Nordic Model of economic development and welfare, this lecture will consider what opinion surveys reveal about American and Norwegian citizens’ attitudes towards their respective systems, and how “freedom and mobility” may be particularly defined in each country as a result.

As this an annual event since 2002 that is designed to provide undergraduate students, from the University of Pittsburgh and other colleges and universities, with advanced research experiences and opportunities to develop presentation skills, takes place elsewhere at the University on March 31, breakfast & registration, lunch, and the closing ceremony will take place in the Global Hub.