Portraits

Sciences Po undergraduate student Xiaorui Zhou is one of the four Chinese students to become a 2020 Rhodes scholar. This prestigious scholarship allows outstanding students to spend two years at the University of Oxford pursuing a postgraduate degree. Xiaorui is currently completing her double degree with Sciences Po and the National University of Singapore (NUS), majoring in History and Middle Eastern studies. She aspires to pursue two Master’s degrees at Oxford next year: one in Women’s Studies, and one in Contemporary Chinese Studies. Interview.

On 18 November 2019, award-winning journalist and alumna Hala Gorani was the Sciences Po American Foundation’s special guest for its 10th Anniversary Gala in New York, along with honoree Nicolas Sarkozy, former French President.

In November 2019, Christophe Jaffrelot, CNRS Senior researcher at Sciences Po, CERI, was elected member of the prestigious French Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He accepted to answer our questions on his career as a researcher and teacher at Sciences Po. This interview was conducted by Miriam Perier.

Sciences Po student Lamis Al Jasem was born in Raqqa, Syria. Tired of the onslaught of images of destruction that have characterised Raqqa in the media since its capture by the Islamic State in 2013, Lamis decided to show the world her hometown as she once knew it. While completing a Master’s in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, Lamis launched See My Raqqa, a social media project that shares positive photography of the Syrian city, both before the invasion and today. Now See My Raqqa has become a community, a place for Syrians to exchange stories and memories, transforming rubble back into the monuments that existed before. Lamis told us about her mission.

Memphis Blue is a student in the dual degree programme between Sciences Po and the University of Sydney. At the beginning of 2019, she was awarded the Davis Projects for Peace, which she used to launch the initiative “A Different View” in New South Wales, Australia. In this interview, she tells us about the project and her plans to expand it further.

Paul Claudel, French poet and dramatist, brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel, and member of the Académie Française, is also a Sciences Po alumnus.

Since its opening in 1872, Sciences Po has welcomed thousands of British students from neighbouring universities across the Channel. Among the very first Brits to enrol at the university was Sir Austen Chamberlain, an ambitious Cambridge graduate with a brilliant future in European diplomacy. Best known for his role negotiating the Locarno Treaties, for which he was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Chamberlain held the position of Foreign Secretary in the inter-war years from 1924 – 1929. What did he take away from his time as the only British student in Sciences Po’s Class of 1886, and how was that to shape his policy during such a pivotal period in Europe’s history?

The Sciences Po American Foundation awarded Maëlle Gavet its annual alumni award during a reception earlier in May. Gavet is a 2002 graduate of the Sciences Po master's program, and Chief Operating Officer of Compass, a real estate technology company building an end-to-end platform for agents and their clients.

In honour of World Oceans Day and Oceans Week at Sciences Po, read this interview of Eve Isambourg, a Sciences Po student and oceans activist. Eve spent her third year abroad raising awareness on oceanic issues around the world, and spoke at the United Nations in New York defending our planet's oceans. (Interview originally published in 2018).

Gregoire Medina is pursuing a Master’s in Communication at Sciences Po Executive Education. After ten years of professional experience, he decided it was time to “take some time”, not necessarily to acquire news skills, but to reflect on his profession and industry. In the course of the Master’s, students go on a learning expedition. Gregoire tells us about his experience.

Arturo is a 2nd year undergraduate student studying on the Poitiers campus. He was born in France but has lived the majority of his life in Mexico. He got his baccalaureate from a Franco-Mexican school, and he chose Sciences Po because social engagement is an important part of the curriculum. Read the interview with Arturo who is engaged and committed, well beyond the confines of the campus, to mental health issues...

Charlotte Nørlund-Matthiessen did her undergraduate studies on the Dijon campus, which hosts the European specialisation programme with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe, before enrolling in the European Affairs Master’s programme at Sciences Po. Since graduating in 2012, she has worked on multiple projects inspired by her drive to build a stronger Europe. Today she works as a Parliamentary Assistant for a French MEP at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Graduate of the class of 1972, professor at Sciences Po from 2006-2015, Salomé Zourabichvili is, as of 28 November, 2018, the first female president of Georgia. But she is also one of very few female alumna who is now a Head of State. Returning to her alma mater to give a lecture on the 18th February 2019, we look back at the path of a quiet but promising student. 

Matthieu Tordeur, who graduated from Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs in June 2018, has made an original career choice: to be an adventurer. Following in the footsteps of his heroes, explorers Scott and Admundsen, he has just completed a 51-day solo expedition in the Antarctic. 

Immaculada Miracle graduated in June 2018 with a Master’s in International Development from the Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs. She now works as an International Manager at both the French National Institute for Solar Energy (INES) (fr) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

Former student Alice Koskas entered Sciences Po with her sights set on a career in international diplomacy. But during a year of study at Fudan University in China, she encountered the world of art and design. A graduate in Finance and Strategy from the Class of 2009, Koskas is now Sales Director at luxury goods brand Hermès. We interviewed her on her path from Sciences Po to Hermès.

Vanessa Topp is German but grew up in the United States. She studies Human Rights and Humanitarian Action at PSIA, the Paris School of International Affairs. Alongside her Master's, she volunteers by aiding refugees in Paris. 

The 2018 Columbia University Valedictorian is Justice Betty, a graduate of the Dual BA degree from Sciences Po and Columbia. Watch the speech she gave at commencement (beginning at 1:58:50) and read the interview of an inspiring young citizen.

Since graduating from Sciences Po in 2011 with a Master's degree in Finance and Strategy, Jingjing Fan has been pursuing her lifelong passion in the fashion industry. She founded Elleme, a luxury accessories brand based in the Marais but with an outlook that is global. Hear more about her path from Sciences Po to haute couture.

Ivy Sabwami is an exchange student from the University of Nairobi, in Kenya. This past year, she studied abroad at Sciences Po on the Paris campus. Interview.