July, 2007

Professor Christina Slade gave a keynote address on ‘Global citizenship, contrasting views’ to the third plenary conference of the European Archipelago of Humanistic Thematic Networks, ‘Images of Europe’, held 1 – 3 June 2007 at the Academy of Sciences, Rue Ducale, Brussels.

The conference dealt with images of Europe both within and without, and was precipitated by the evidence of disquiet about the European project among Europeans as shown in referenda rejecting the Constitution. Over two days, some 80 participants, from across the networks and bureaucrats from EU directorates concerned with education and research worked closely together in groups on topics including European citizenship.

The Archipelago is a group of 14 EU funded academic networks, each of which is constituted by scholars from at least one university in each member state. The Pisa based CLIOHnet of historians, for example, is a network of over 100 universities who must jointly administer EU funds. Networks are based on various themes, ranging from a network of scholars concerned with education for citizenship to a network of heads of architecture faculties in Europe.

Professor Slade said, “It was an extraordinary opportunity to represent the IUEU Centre as leading European academics in the Humanities worked together.”