Maastricht Diplomat

On 1st of February, the euro became the sole legal tender in Bulgaria. However, there have been many speculations as to what pushed this change, what does this entail for the Bulgarian people and who is benefiting the most. Join us as we delve into these topics with 6 experts in their respective fields.  🎧Find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts Throughout the episode you will hear:  👤Svetoslav Mal...

In this episode of our Portrait Series, we sit down with Rebeca Arguedas, President of UFS and a prominent voice in sustainability in the facility management sector. Interviewed by Clara Ledoux, Rebeca walks us through her journey as a Latin-American woman in a field traditionally dominated by men and explores how intersectionality shapes our ideals and opportunities.  Recorded on the 20.03.2025 C...

As a Maastricht Diplomat alumni and journalism student, French-Lankan Jonathan Wijayaratne has a unique view on the world. In this episode they talk with Fin Gerke about their journey from European Studies to journalism, the state of journalism and media in Europe, and their roots living in many cultures and countries.  Recorded on the 20.02.2025 Credits Producer and interviewer: Fin Gerke (@finen...

Happy #UNDay 2024! Today marks the 79th anniversary of the United Nations—79 years of navigating global crises and challenges. One issue, however, stands out today: climate change. To commemorate this day, we interviewed Dr. Sanae Okamoto from UNU-MERIT—a COP veteran and former private sector mentor turned researcher. She shares her insights on the intersection of climate change and mental health....

Bauhaus is one of the most influential art and design movements of these days. Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Marcel Breuer are all prominent and common names – but what about Marianne Brandt, Lilly Reich, Gunta Stölzl, and many more? These women are mostly remembered as wives and assistants but not for their significant contributions to the Bauhaus movement. This episode by Lenja C...

We're back for season 2! Charelle and Brendan are excited to share that they are back for a new season of Understanding Europe with a three part series on Democracy Promotion in the EU. Go over and have a listen! Understanding Europe - https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cerim

Are all South American countries the same? In the final episode of our podcast series “One Month Abroad” hosted by @lee.ann.l, Anthi and Sophia tell us about their intercultural experiences in Colombia and Uruguay. They highlight the vibrant culture of both countries, ranging from street vendors to dancing, but also talk about stereotypes commonly held about the South American continent. For more...

In the second episode of our podcast series “One Month Abroad”, our host @lee.ann.l interviews Lotte and Lily who conducted field research in Cyprus and Mozambique. How does your positionality affect research and life abroad? How is a field study different from an Erasmus exchange? Check out this episode to learn the answers to such questions and discover our guest speakers’ insights on intercultu...

In the Maastricht Diplomat’s new podcast series “One Month Abroad”, our host @lee.ann.l interviews five guest speakers who spent one month abroad for a field study. The three episodes discuss what it is like to live for one month in a different country and what challenges and joys are connected to intercultural experiences. In this first episode, our guests Sophia and Jakob talk about their experi...

A trip to the hospital after a bike accident and moving to the Netherlands from the US. In this episode we explore the Dutch healthcare system from an EU and non-EU perspective, hear from the experiences of Fin and Sophie, and find out what you should know and do before you need to engage with the system.  If you want to know more, here you can find resources that might help you: General informati...

The 10th and last episode of CERiM's Understanding Europe is out now! This time, Charelle and Brendan talk about the different episodes that have been published this year, discussing how they link and what threads are pulled throughout them all. So if you haven't yet had a chance to listen to this year's episodes this is the place to start! A TL;DR if you will. Secondary sources:  Unde...

In this episode, Brendan and Charelle sit down with Assem Dandashly and Gergana Noutcheva to discuss the legitimacy of the EU as an external democracy promoter in its southern and eastern neighbourhood while internally it is dealing with a rule of law crisis in member states such as Poland, Hungary, Austria. Has this internal crisis affected the way the EU is perceived? Has it hindered its legitim...

Food on paintings and glued hands on the highway – you probably have heard of these kinds of protest during the past few months, when reports about the “Last Generation” protest movement went viral. Their protests continue and the opinions on them differ. In this episode, Chiara gives you a background about the origins of the “Last Generation” movement and their latest actions. Critiques will be d...

Europe day! Europe day?  What does it even mean? In this episode Brendan and Charelle talk about the significance of Europe Day and the difficulties of forming a Common European Identity. In doing so they are joined by Dr. Aline Sierp, an expert in memory studies, who outlines what studying memory entails and the difficulties that are faced when trying to create a common European memory, and in th...

Asia’s oldest democracy has had a long history of ethnic conflict and corruption at the highest levels of the state. In response to the harshest economic crisis their country has ever experienced, Lankans took to the street last year, launching a protest movement called ‘Aragalaya’ (Sinhala for ‘struggle’). In a headline-grabbing turn of events, the protesters managed to oust the ruling Rajapaksa...

Leen and Hadrian take a deep dive into the world and politics of the 2017 Academy Award nominee Call Me By Your Name (Dir. Luca Guadagnino). Starting from its refreshingly naturalistic cinematography, to exploring the controversies surrounding its plot, cast, and social/ethical responsibility. Everything all the way up to a profile of the most overlooked character in the film, passing through coun...

In today’s episode Brendan and Charelle wrestle with the concept of strategic autonomy, also referred to as strategic sovereignty and possibly other names. You might have seen the term circulating online in light of Macron’s recent visit to China. But what does it actually mean to be strategically autonomous? Join them as they talk to Dr. Sophie Vanhoonacker, an expert in European external relatio...

What do a crystal piano owned by Miranda Kerr, a painting by Picasso and the Wolf of Wall Street have in common? They were all paid with money from Malaysian citizens. Of course, without them knowing. In this final episode of her series “Crooktocracy”, Chiara tells us the incredible and almost unbelievable story of the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund created by then Prime Minist...

Starting from Canne's Grand Prix winner and Oscar-nominated “Close” (2022, Lukas Dhont), Hadrian and Leen will explore the general themes emerging from Dhont's sophomore feature, tying into the general themes of today's social climate. This film stole viewers’ hearts because it centers on children, children facing problems all too mature for them. Sadly, this reflects our current reali...

Last week, the French government passed a very controversial pensions reform, against the opinion of 70% of the French people and trade unions. They did so using article 49.3 of the Constitution, allowing them to skip a vote in Parliament. The French have been protesting against this reform and the way it was forced through, culminating on Thursday 23 March. Jonathan was on the scene in Paris with...

"Europe will be forged in crisis, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises", these were the words of Jean Monnet. But what is a crisis, and how does Europe act when it is confronted by one? Join Brendan and Charelle as they have a conversation with two CERiM experts, Dr. Esther Versluis and Johan Adriaensen PhD, who will lead them through crisis management 101. Secon...

In this second episode, Jonathan takes you on a sonic journey through the life of Lankans in the crisis. Last autumn, they visited their family there and recorded soundbites of how their relatives and people in Lanka are experiencing economic despair, painting a bittersweet picture of a people, albeit pessimistic, showing resilience through their love for music and their sense of humour. The choru...

There are various different forms of government in the world: there’s democracy, aristocracy, technocracy…and crooktocracy , the government of crooks. In this 2nd episode of Crooktocracy, we will fly all over the Atlantic with Chiara to look at a Latin American crooktocracy : Brazil. We will discover the groundbreaking impact of Car Wash . It’s the story of how a small money laundering investigati...

In this episode Brendan and Charelle look at the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine one year after it started. Joined by Anna Herranz-Surrallés and Giselle Bosse, both Associate Professors at Maastricht University, they explore how the conflict has affected Ukraine and the EU. They also look at how the relationship between EU-Ukraine and EU-Russia have evolved since the beginning of the conflict, as...

New Projections for the global battery electric vehicle market go from 47 billion US Dollar in 2020  to 212 billion in 2030. The demand for these batteries will remain high. But the challenging aspect of the waste is not yet properly mentioned in a lot of discussions. Partly because the literature is very thin and there is not much data yet. Still this issue will become increasingly challengi...