A New Cohort Goes Up:

Opening Ceremony of the Academic Year and Awards

The Chair of War Studies welcomed the incoming students of its MA programs in International War Studies (IWS) and War and Conflict Studies (WCS) on 14. Oktober 2022. Over 60 students, parents, partners and friends were in attendance. The ceremony opened the new academic year with the usual pomp and circumstance: Prof. Dr. Sönke Neitzel warmly welcomed the incoming students and bade farewell to the outgoing cohort. Prof. Dr. William Mulligan, Head of the School of History at University College Dublin which is UP’s partner university for the double degree in International War Studies, also send a short welcome message by video.

Ms. Irene Sánchez Cózar was awarded the Chair of War Studies’ annual prize for best graduate. It includes a ring inscribed with the year of graduation and a prize money of 500 EUR as a recognition of this exceptional accomplishment. Ms. Sánchez, an IWS veteran who had already won last year’s UP tuition scholarship for UCD, has graduated with the best grade average ever since the inception of the WCS program in 2015. In her acceptance speech, she impressed upon her fellow students the responsibility her generation bears for making the world a safer and better place by understanding war and conflict so that humanity might take away the right lessons from history so as not to repeat past mistakes that have unleashed the hounds of war.

For the first time, the Chair was able to award two scholarships of 7.000 EUR each to help pay for the tuition fees for the Dublin year UCD. The scholarships are awarded on a merit basis as well and were won by Mr. Lukas Joselewitsch and Ms. Sarah Westvik respectively, two outstanding IWS students. Professor Neitzel thanked the benefactors at the Association of Friends of the Chair of War Studies for their sustained commitment to the MA programs, which – among many other things – includes supporting promising IWS students through a scholarship. The second scholarship was made possible by a generous grant by the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Prof. Dr. Ilse Wischer, Deputy Student Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Potsdam, then hailed all outgoing students and presented each of them with a certificate of completion. She also read out the titles of the MA theses written in Potsdam and Dublin which showed the impressive range of academic interests our students bring to their programs.

The evening ended with snacks and sparkling wine on the terrace of the Communs, with magnificent views of the New Palace at sunset. We congratulate the awardees for their sustained efforts and academic excellence and wish all of our new students a great start into the university year. Welcome to UP!

Best Prize Speech Ms. Irene Sánchez Cózar, october 14th 2022 (pdf)