Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3

Thursday, 7 March 2019 16:00-18:00

Agenda

  1. Project Opening – Jean-Michel Ganteau, Vice-President for Research, UPVM3, Martin Procházka, MOVES Coordinator, Charles University, Prague, Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin, MOVES Local Coordinator,  UPVM3
  1. ESRs Selection – preparation of interviews – Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin, Martin Procházka
  1. MOVES Supervisory Board – schedule of preparations, Martin Procházka
  2. MOVES Consortium Agreement – finalisation, Martin Procházka
  3. MOVES Induction Month – draft programmeAndreas Mahler, Local Coordinator,  FUB, Martin Procházka,
  1. AOB

Welcome address by Jean-Michel Ganteau, Vice-President for Research, UPVM3

Dear colleagues,

First, I would like to apologise for being absent today, but I have had some prior engagements outside Montpellier for quite some time and have been unable to reschedule them.

I am all the more sorry about not being able to attend this momentous event as it is both a pleasure and an honour to host the kick off meeting of the MOVES programme here on the St Charles Campus of Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3. I would like to welcome our friends from Prague, Berlin, Canterbury/Brussels and Porto to our venerable university that has been specialising in teaching and research in the field of the Humanities for over seven centuries now.

As the vice-chancellor for research at UPVM3, I have been following the progression of the MOVES project for quite some time and I am happy that such a degree of collaboration has been made possible among our partner universities. I know that you have all worked very hard on this programme, and that at times trying to accommodate the intricacies and specificities of national laws has been mind-boggling (I must confess I hold responsibility for this and I suspect you may have hated me at times), and my thanks extend to all the people in the national teams that have been working on this project.

I should add that I am especially happy to host such an event at UPVM3 as we have chosen the theme of ethics as one of its main scientific axes, here. This seems completely fitting to me as I understand the « Migrations and Modernity » programme as a way to open the present to the singularities of the past and vice versa, with a view to addressing some of the most preoccupying contemporary problems in the light of past experience, taking into consideration past crises, paying attention to their possible traumatic repetition, trying to find the means to understand and work through them. It is fitting, then, that this kick off meeting should take place in a university where ethics are often discussed—and more often than not practiced. And it is fitting that the venue should be a former 18th-century hospital, a place where citizens from all walks of life used to be considered, paid attention to and taken care of, three actions that are part and parcel of the ethical MOVE.

Once again, welcome to you all, thanks you SO MUCH for being here and getting such a beautiful project started. I wish you the best for the MOVES programme.

Yours sincerely,

Jean-Michel Ganteau