SPS PhD candidate enjoys research recognition

This year Tomasz Wozniakowski, a third year PhD Candidate in the Department of Political and Social Sciences, has had a foretaste of his dream of ‘pursuing a career in academia and eventually becoming a professor, so I could continue to do what I love – research and teaching’.

Named a Fulbright-Schuman Fellow grantee for 2015, he has spent the last six months at the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has been writing the US chapter of his dissertation, presenting his work at professional conferences around the US, and participating in various seminars in his host department. Under the supervision of Alexander Trechsel, Tomasz’s thesis will deal with ‘The EU and US fiscal unions in a comparative historical perspective’.

Tomasz’s work in this area has not gone unnoticed on this side of the Atlantic, either. Earlier this month he was awarded the College of Europe – Arenberg European Prize for his paper ‘Sovereign debt crises and fiscal power: lessons from the early US federation for the Euro area today’.  Awarded by the College of Europe and the Arenberg Foundation, the EUR 5,000 prize is ‘awarded to an excellent contribution in social sciences or humanities, which, using historical and/or comparative analysis, explores federal solutions for European integration’.  The award ceremony took place at the European Parliament in Brussels, in the presence of sponsors – the Rector of the College of Europe Jorge Monar and the Duke of Arenberg – and several MEPs, including Guy Verhofstadt.