October, 2007

Professor Brigid Laffan has recently undertaken a tour in Australia as the guest of the Vice Chancellor of La Trobe University and of the IUEU Centre. Her visit included presentations in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, and involved public lectures, staff seminars and addresses to undergraduates. The centrepiece of her Melbourne visit was a keynote lecture at the 15th Irish Australian Conference at La Trobe University. Her subject was ‘Ireland in Europe: A model for small states?’ She also gave seminar papers in the Politics Programme at La Trobe University and at the Contemporary Europe Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. In Perth she gave a public lecture at Murdoch University on the place of Ireland within Europe and the European Union, on 10 October 2007. This lecture was the first public event hosted by Murdoch as part of its participation in the IUEU Centre. It was very well attended by faculty, students and members of the wider community, including Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Bolton, former chancellor of the University, as well as Emeritus Professor Brian de Garis and Professor Bob Reece, both former holders of the Keith Cameron Chair in Australian History at University College, Dublin. During her visit to Perth, Professor Laffan also spoke to students studying modern European history on the development and future prospects of the European Union.

Professor Laffan is Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations and Principal of the College of Human Sciences at University College, Dublin. She is the author of The Finances of the Union (Macmillan, 1997) and Integration and Co‑operation in Europe (Routledge, 1992) and co-author of Europe’s Experimental Union: Re‑thinking Integration (Routledge, 1999). She is the founder and chair of the Ireland for Europe Group, an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy, and member of the International Advisory Panel of NORFACE (a partnership of seven European Research Councils).

Professor Laffan’s visit to Australia was part of the IUEU Centre’s continuing program of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.