TESTIMONIAL. LUDIVINE ZANETTI, ALUMNA OF THE EMPA

I am currently working in Luxembourg as Head of Regulatory Development within the financial sector, after 15 years spent navigating complex EU regulatory and governance frameworks. This path has been both intellectually demanding and rewarding, and it has given me a strong understanding of how deeply questions of governance, public decision-making, institutional change and geopolitics shape not only finance, but today’s professional environment more broadly.

Over time, I felt the need to step back from day-to-day pressures of professional life to engage more directly with these wider dynamics, to deepen my understanding of the broader forces driving Europe today, and to build a more structured understanding of the political and institutional dynamics that shape regulatory outcomes upstream.

I chose the Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) at Sciences Po Executive Education because I was looking for more than a degree. I was looking for a place that could help me build a bridge between a senior professional background and a more strategic engagement with the public, political and institutional dimensions of my field.

Sciences Po Executive Education stood out because of its unique position at the crossroads of academic excellence, public policy, European governance and real-world decision-making. What particularly appealed to me was the combination of intellectual rigour, a very high level of faculty and guest speakers, and a learning environment designed for experienced professionals who want to step back,  engage seriously with complex public challenges and sharpen their strategic thinking. One of the key reasons behind my choice was also the opportunity to specialise in Geopolitics & Security, as I wanted to deepen my understanding of these issues and integrate them more fully into my professional practice.

It also gave me the opportunity to reconnect more closely with the French and European public policy environment, and to strengthen the strategic and public affairs dimension of my expertise, with a view to taking on responsibilities where regulatory knowledge and institutional understanding genuinely converge.

In my view, the EMPA’s main strength lies in the quality and balance of the overall experience. The programme combines intellectually demanding content with a very high level of faculty and guest speakers, which makes it both academically rigorous and closely connected to real-world policy and institutional issues.

The diversity of the cohort was also a major asset. Bringing together experienced professionals from both the public and private sectors is quite rare, yet extremely valuable. These two worlds do not often have the opportunity to work so closely together on the same challenges, and this created particularly rich, with very different but highly complementary perspectives.

Another key strength was the possibility to specialise in Geopolitics & Security. In the current international context, I believe this is fundamental. For professionals like me coming from the private sector, and especially finance, a solid understanding of geopolitical dynamics and security issues has become increasingly important, including from a risk analysis perspective.

I would also highlight the Europe module as a particularly valuable part of the programme. In a world shaped by major geopolitical, economic and institutional shifts, a strong understanding of Europe is, in my view, essential.

The Capstone research project deserves a special mention. The opportunity to conduct original research on a topic of genuine professional and intellectual relevance - in my case, the evolution of EU executive governance and its implications for democratic accountability, examined through original interviews with EU officials, academics and practitioners - supported by faculty and grounded in the programme's analytical frameworks, was one of the most demanding and rewarding aspects of the experience. It reinforced something I had long sensed professionally: that understanding how power is actually exercised at EU level, beyond formal institutional structures, is essential to anticipating how policy and regulation take shape.

Finally, the programme’s format was a real strength. Although very demanding, it remained fully compatible with an active professional life, which made it possible to immediately connect academic learning with day-to-day professional experience. Combined with the reputation of Sciences Po and the strength of its network, this made the EMPA a highly valuable experience.

One particularly memorable moment for me came during the Geopolitics & Security specialisation, which was one of the highlights of the programme. Among a series of excellent sessions on contemporary conflict, strategic thinking and global security, the intervention that left the deepest impression on me was “Words of a Soldier: The Battle of Tomorrow” by Adrien Gorremans, a French Air and Space Force officer. 

Our cohort was usually very engaged, vocal and interactive, but during the two hour testimony, we listened in complete silence. His words were so powerful, so concrete and so emotionally charged that they created a very unusual atmosphere in the room.

For me, it was a real eye-opening moment because it brought geopolitical and security issues out of the abstract and into something immediate, human and deeply tangible. It reminded me that behind concepts such as high-intensity conflict, strategic competition or defence preparedness, there are real lives, real decisions and real consequences. That session captured exactly what made the EMPA so valuable: the ability to connect intellectual depth with the reality of the world we live in.

The EMPA has had a significant impact on how I position myself professionally. It deepened my understanding of European governance, public affairs and geopolitical dynamics, and gave that dimension of my expertise greater clarity and analytical structure.

Perhaps most importantly, it strengthened my confidence and sense of legitimacy. It helped me better identify what I can bring and what I can further develop in the workplace, and gave me greater confidence to engage on complex governance and geopolitical issues, including in discussions at senior executive level.

The programme also broadened my network in a meaningful way, both through the cohort and through the high-level profiles I had the opportunity to engage with during my Capstone research on EU executive governance.

I know it can feel like a big decision, especially when you already have a demanding job and a heavy workload. But the fact that the EMPA is completed within one year makes it much more manageable and attractive for experienced professionals. It is intense, but precisely because of that, it is also very rewarding. The Capstone project is a particularly good example of this: it gives you the rare opportunity to analyse a subject in real depth, with genuine academic rigour, in a way that the demands of day-to-day professional life rarely allow.

The programme offers a rare opportunity to learn alongside people from both the public and private sectors, which creates very rich discussions and perspectives. It also gives you the tools to better understand a world shaped by European governance, public policy, leadership and geopolitics, and to position yourself more confidently in that environment.

Yes, it requires a real investment of time and energy, but it is absolutely worth it. The EMPA strengthens not only your knowledge, but also your confidence, your legitimacy and your ability to anticipate change. For me, it was a truly transformative experience.