Two Weeks of Workshops for the Joint Masters

An intensive year is coming to an end for the students of the GEGPA and EUDIPLO Masters: two weeks full of workshops and a day trip to Saint Paul de Vence concluded the academic year.

The first week started with a two-day workshop on "Sustainable Development & Foundations: The Cases of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and ArboRise". Laurent Douek, Senior Board Member at Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and Committee Member at ArboRise and Philippe Nicod, Chairman at ArboRise, introduced the students to the role of philanthropy in sustainable development and studied the critical success factors of well-functioning governance in foundations.

An excursion to the beautiful village Saint Paul de Vence, creative haven for innumerable artists since the 1930s, offered a welcomed day of recreation. After discovering the village with a guided tour, the students competed for the first place of the best "boulistes" in a very engaged round of "Pétanque". Everyone won, we found...

The first week concluded with a workshop on "Circular Economy" with representatives from the European Commission, DG Environment, Emmanuelle Maire, Head of Unit, and William Neale, Advisor, and Julius Wiebe, Senior Strategist at BCG Brighthouse. Students acquired a multi-faceted understanding of the circular economy paradigm along with its challenges and benefits. They gained valuable insights and practical skills on how to shape the circular economy transformation through policies and how various sectors of the European economy engage in this transition.

The second week started with an introduction to "OECD Talent Management and Informal Governance of the G7/G20" with Nadav Shental and Maja Furlan from the Talent Management and Analytics Group, Human Resource Management at the OECD. Students also had the possibility to enquire about internship and job options at the OECD in a separate information session.

On Tuesday, the Joint Master students visited the Mediterranean Institute of Risk, Environment and Sustainable Development (IMREDD) in Nice where they were welcomed by Paulo Moura, Deputy Director of Innovation, who spoke about "Governance of Smart Cities for Sustainable Development". The students learnt about the latest research and innovative ideas on smart city governance and how smart technology is used and can be adopted in the fields of energy consumption, transportation and  public health through data and AI. 

The second week concluded with a workshop on "Evidence-Based Global Policy Development and Negotiations on Land and Its Role as an Integrator and Accelerator of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" with Paul Desanker, Manager in the Adaptation Division of the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

To round off the two weeks students, lecturers and staff gathered for a potluck lunch in a convivial atmosphere.