Home>Hugo Plassais, Class of 2020
16.01.2022
Hugo Plassais, Class of 2020
>Can you tell us about your academic background?
Sciences Po was a long-standing plan for me. I started preparing for the competitive exams around the age of 16 and in 2018, after a few unsuccessful attempts, I joined the Master of Research in Political Science and International Relations. I passed the BAC ES (economic and social baccalaureate), a stream that no longer exists, in 2014. After a brief period at the University of Nanterre, I entered the Institute of Political Studies of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which gave me the opportunity to study for a year in Shanghai at the East China Normal University (ECNU).
I joined Sciences Po Paris as a Master's student, and worked for two years, under the supervision of Delphine Allès, on the evolution of Chinese discourse concerning UN peacekeeping operations. This dissertation will very probably be published in the months to come.
What memories do you have of your school, your class, and your teachers?
I remember Sciences Po as a stimulating environment for both its demanding teaching and the motivation and liveliness of my classmates. Debates that excited and nourished us often went beyond the classroom. Being trained in research through actual practice has been fundamental for me because it encourages structured thinking and develops confidence in one's ability to adapt. This Master's degree gave us time to read, to acquire knowledge independently, and thus anchor it. Before the pandemic tore us away from this iconic site, we spent almost two years in the library reserved for researchers and apprentice researchers on Boulevard Saint-Germain. It had become like a second home, except for the days when it was requisitioned for the competitive exams for political science teachers.
Sciences Po allows you to meet brilliant people from all over France, Belgium, China, Turkey, Senegal and elsewhere, to step back from your own culture, your own cognitive biases. This meeting of minds pushed me to discover new fields in both the private and non-profit sectors. We participated in a Model United Nations in New York with delegations from all over the world. I wrote articles and editorials, and did cultural mediation and public-speaking contests. I contributed to TV and radio programmes such as Le Dessous des Cartes (a TV programme explaining geopolitics using maps) on Arte and La Matinale (summer morning show) on France Culture. I also had the opportunity to volunteer at the Paris Peace Forum. Sciences Po takes up a lot of space in a student's life but it’s rare to encounter such a wealth of opportunity.
I remember in particular the end-of-Master's seminar on the evolution of multilateralism and the contemporary international system. At its conclusion, each of us gave a 90-minute oral presentation, without notes, on a research topic. As in a forum or debate, we then had to face questions and comments from our classmates, already tempered by two years’ of papers, fieldwork and readings, and the challenges of our professors, Guillaume Devin and Frédéric Ramel. It was particularly influential for me.
What is your current role?
After graduation, I wanted to return overseas, and I became a Civic Service volunteer at a social science research centre of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and the CNRS, in Prague. I then worked for a few months as a researcher at the École militaire in Paris. I am currently an apprentice analyst and communications officer at Business France and I would like to continue next year by joining International Volunteering in Administration (VIA), if possible in Asia. Eventually I could work in the field of international peace and security – why not?
How have your studies contributed to the position you hold today?
The School of Research gave me a solid knowledge base, covering the whole ecosystem of international relations (international organisations, ministries, academic research). This has given me confidence in my abilities and allows me to approach a specialisation more objectively. Sciences Po teaches us to confront the constantly changing global political space and has allowed me to structure my thinking as a young professional, as an apprentice researcher and as a citizen.
Would you have any advice to give to a student who wants to go into the field in which you work today?
If I had any advice, it would be this: “If you find a closed door on your way, go through the window and if the window doesn't open, see if there is a chimney.”
publication by Hugo Plassais
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[ January 2022 ]
