Alumni roundtable on careers for diplomacy students

On 28 January 2025, the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies (IRD) organised its annual Alumni Roundtable “Life after IRD”. This event offered the students of the Jacques DELORS promotion an opportunity to receive practical career advice from alumni of their programme. Panellists included graduates working in the EU institutions, international organisations, member-state ministries, public affairs, academia and the non-governmental sector.

The Department’s student representatives Angelina WAGNER and Louis ACCOU welcomed the participants before the alumni shared their post-College professional experiences on the Brussels job market. The panellists included Cecilia PELLOSNIEMI (Political Advisor to the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, EEAS, Albert Einstein promotion 2010-11), Paweł POKORSKI (Policy Officer at the European Commission, DG HOME, John Maynard Keynes promotion 2016-17), Sara CANALI (BOF PhD Researcher at Ghent University, Simone Veil promotion 2017-18), Dearbhaile O'CALLAGHAN (Policy Officer at the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, Hannah Arendt promotion 2019-20), Selin BATITÜRK (Programme Officer, Public Diplomacy Division at NATO, Mário Soares promotion 2020-21), Wilf KING (Head of Office for MEP Barry Andrews at the European Parliament, Mário Soares promotion 2020-21), Cédric LOMBAERTS (Attaché, International Relations & EU Defence Policy Expert, Éliane Vogel-Polsky promotion 2021-22), and Samuel WEJCHERT (Consultant at FTI, David Sassoli promotion 2022-23). After the roundtable, the panellists and students continued discussions informally during a reception.