122 Students Graduate from our Three Master’s Programmes

7 November 2022

122 students graduated last week from our three master’s programmes – 46 for our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (LLM), 42 for our Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law (MTJ) and 34 for our Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict (Executive Master).

In the presence of students and their families and friends, Faculty members and Geneva Academy staff – with some students and their families participating remotely – the Graduation Ceremony was the occasion to celebrate this important milestone, congratulate our students for this achievement and say goodbye.

‘Graduation ceremonies are an important moment for our students and the outcome of a very intense learning journey at the Geneva Academy. It is a celebration of what they have accomplished but also the start of a new chapter in their lives’ says Professor Gloria Gaggioli, Director of the Geneva Academy.

‘I am confident that they will all, here in Geneva or in the field, pursue a meaningful career path and contribute to ensure a better protection for victims – be it during armed conflicts or in peace time’ she adds.

Inspiring speeches by representatives of our three programmes – Filsan Ainan for our LLM, Cameron Keys for our MTJ and Jaroslav Krasni for our Executive Master – highlighted some key moments of the programmes, the challenges and accomplishments, as well as the strong bonds created among peers.

In the ceremony’s keynote speech, our Swiss IHL Chair, Professor Marco Roscini, addressed the problems and prospects for future regulation of cyber warfare.

Our Board member and alumnus, Mr Etienne Kuster share, who is now Senior Adviser for Relations with Academic Circles at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), shared with our graduating students his own experience and vision of acting as a humanitarian, based on his career at the ICRC.

Our Faculty member Dr Sandra Krähenmann – Senior Legal Adviser at Geneva Call – also underlined that in her work she regularly meets our alumni in various positions, working for the ICRC, the UN, the European Union or governments. She inspired our students by highlighting the variety of job opportunities and career paths they can envisage after having studied at the Geneva Academy.

The Graduation ceremony is also the occasion to award our three prizes – the Henry Dunant Research Prize awarded with the Foundation Henry Dunant, the Best LLM Paper Prize and the Best MTJ Paper Prize – that recognize the exceptional academic work of three graduating students.

Sophie Timmermans received the 2022 Henry Dunant Research Prize from the hands of Cécile Martinez Dunant – a descendant of Henry Dunant and following a speech by François Bugnion. Edward Millet received the 2022 Best LLM Paper Prize and Francesco Pipicella the 2022 Best MTJ Paper Prize. They all presented their paper’s topics and respective research to the audience.