MA in journalism at the Charles University, leader of the 1960s student movement in Prague. Following the Warsaw Pact invasion in Czechoslovakia in 1968 he was forced to emigrate to the UK. He studied International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Politics at the University of Reading and in the St Anthony’s College, Oxford University. Founder of Palach Press Agency in London in 1974, which later became the main press agency for Czechoslovak opposition in the Western Europe. It was also the main distributor in the world of documents and reports issued by human rights movement Charter 77. He also formed the Jan Palach Information and Research Trust (JPIRT) which provided Czechoslovak dissidents with books and technical equipment and supported underground university courses. Founder of the East European Cultural Foundation (EECF) and the prestigious quarterly East European Reporter, which published all important documents and articles written by dissidents in Eastern and Central European countries. Returned to Prague from political exile in November 1989 and was elected in June 1990 to the Federal Assembly (Parliament). A notable academic career included posts as the Visiting Professor of Politics and History at the Adeplhi University in New York and as the Karl Loewenstein Fellow in Politics and Jurisprudence at the Amherst College in Massachusetts. He holds several honorary degrees, including the Honorary Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Honorary Doctor of Humane letters at the Adeplhi University. 1973-1989 lecturer at the Institute of Adult Education in London. 1998-2002 Minister of Foreign Affairs. 1999 - 2002 Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign and Security Policy. President of the 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly (2002-2003). June 2002-2006 Deputy to the Czech Parliament, where he worked as Vice-President in the Foreign Affairs Committee. Foreign affairs adviser to the President of the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) 2007- . Winner of numerous awards for achievements in the strife for democracy and human rights.
Experts - foreign policy
Jan Kavan
Marcin Kędzierski
Research and teaching assistant at the Department of European Studies of the Cracow University of Economics. He graduated from the Cracow University of Economics in International Relations and European Studies (MA) and in Economy and Public Administration (PhD). He completed internships at the Polish Embassy in Germany, European Parliament in Brussels and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. He runs one of the oldest NGO in Poland, the Jagiellonian Club, which operates i.a. in the field of Visegrad region cooperation (he is personally responsible for the new internet portal aimed at Visegrad+ politics and economy). He covers Polish internal and foreign policy, the European integration processes, EU institutions and EU sector policies with special focus on economic and foreign policy issues.
Robert Kiss
Mr. Kiss served as Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to Poland for over five years from 2007 through until 2012. He graduated from the Faculty of Diplomacy, Moscow State Institute for International Relations in 1985; as an economist. In 2004 he took an advanced qualifying examination in Public Administration – foreign and security policy. He has cooperated with many universities: Budapest School of Politics, Kodolányi János College, Debrecen University and Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen (Belgium). He has worked for Hungarian Ministry of Employment and Labour as deputy director-general, Office of the Minister without portfolio-president.
Kai-Olaf Lang
Research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin, Germany. Head of research unit on European Integration; previously research fellow of the Federal Institute for Eastern and International Studies (Bundesinstitut für internationale und ostwissenschaftliche Studien, BIOst), Cologne, Germany. His fields of specialization include Countries of Central and Eastern Europe: transformation, political developments, foreign and security policy, bilateral relations with Germany; EU enlargement and implications; security issues in CEE. In recent years he has carried out research concerning foreign and security policies of those countries, problems regarding accession of CEE countries to EU and domestic problems of the countries; European Neighborhood Policy. He holds a diploma in public administration and a doctorate in political sciences. Member of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde; Member of German-Polish Kopernikus-Group; Member of Editorial Board of Przegląd Zachodni (Poznan), Advisory Board of Aspen Review Central Europe (Prague). He holds a Bene Merito award by Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski.
