All in INTERVIEW
Barbara Kelemen graduated from BISLA in 2017 and continued her studies at London School of Economics and Peking University, where she earned double masters. Currently, she is working as a research associate at Security Intelligence Consulting Company in London. It has been three years since she left BISLA, but she has remained in touch with the school ever since. Today, she decided to share her experiences with us.
This is an interview with the principal of the QSI International School in Bratislava, Daniel Blaho. In the interview, we discuss education in Slovakia, how it has changed over the years and how it has been impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic.
Paula graduated in 2019. She is currently studying Human Rights and Humanitarian Action at Sciences Po in Paris. Even now, she is willing to take part in BISLA activities and help current students with any questions they might have regarding graduate studies and her experiences. She came a long way since she started studying at one of the best universities in the world. How did she manage to get there and how did BISLA help her on her way? All of this will be answered in the following interview.
Read an interview with BISLA’s resident professor, James Thompson, as he talks about his life experiences and what brought him to live in Bratislava
An exciting interview conducted by our BISLA student and member of IL Ponte team Ivona Mičeková. The story about life beyond the borders with new challenges and experience is now available to read at our page!
František Gyáfáš is a Slovak IT specialist, programmer, but also a Profesor here at BISLA and other universities across Slovakia. In this interview of František Gyáfáš by Ivona Mičeková, he goes into details about his colourful past in Socialist Czechoslovakia, his international experiences, and his hobbies.
Viktoria Križanová
An interview by Viktoria Križanová with JUDr. Sylvia Tiryaki, PhD. who is a Slovak academic, analyst, and the co-founder of the Global Political Trends Center (GPoT Center)
1989 and the Crisis of the Post-Wall World was the title of the lecture that was given by Professor Timothy Garton Ash from the University of Oxford. During his recent stay in Slovakia, he participated at the International Conference on November 89: 30 Years After, which was held at Comenius University and organized by the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Il Ponte was lucky enough to take part in this event and conduct an interview with Prof. Garton Ash. The given interview was done after the 30-year commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall and prior to that of the start of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia.
Growing up in Europe gives us privileges that are often too easy to forget. We take for granted a life, that could only be the wildest dream for some. We don’t have to be afraid of persecution, forced to flee our home or getting killed by our government. The story of Ali, that I present here, is about the difficult choices, insecurities, discrimination, and fear, which many refugees experience on their road to Europe.
Marek Vagovič is an investigative journalist working for web portal aktuality.sk. He won the Open Society journalist’s award 8-times already while being nominated for the same award 18-times so far. In 2018 he won Biela Vrana (White Crow) award together with other 6 fellow journalists for the civic courage and promotion of truth in society. One of the 7 recipients of the award was also his murdered colleague Ján Kuciak.
According to an internal report by Hewlett Packard, men apply for a job interview when they meet at least 60% of the required criteria. However, women only apply for work if they meet 100% of them. Uncertainty or dubiousness seems to be a more feminine character feature. I talked to Martina Sokolíková, who runs Google education and marketing activities in Slovakia
The joke goes like this: "Sociologists don´t do it. They just observe." Well, Prof. Vašečka is a sociologist and his observations are certainly thought-provoking and valuable, which is why we, in Il Ponte, decided he is a great candidate for a long interview in this edition. However, when it comes to discussing important sociological issues, he can be also witty, proving he does not take himself too seriously. As you can guess from the title, we covered a wide variety of topics: migration, globalization, polarization, communication, education, space exploration, and everything in-between.
There is a growing wave of nationalism sweeping through Europe today. However, while many reject any form of nationalism whatsoever, as a reaction to it, Prof. Harari suggests that there is a positive side to nationalism which we should preserve.
Artistic freedom, being a major domain for the freedom of expression, belongs to the fundamental pillars of democracy. It is art which encourages diversity of cultural expression by embodying heterogeneous values, ideas and worldviews.
“Well, up until now the planet warmed up by 1 °C and we can already see some critical changes. Perhaps the most important change is the decline of biodiversity, which is caused, aside from other factors, directly by climate change. Then there is the death of coral reefs, which is already massive due to oceans warming up. Another problem is the biosphere on land.”
According to the official Facebook statement, it’s the anti-racist football tournament which celebrates diversity and the enriching aspect of different cultures in our own society. The organizers shy away from any form of discrimination based on nationality, race, gender or sexual orientation. I was keen to interview one of them, Peter Vrbjar, to know more…
A historian by profession, specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, professor Snyder is also a permanent fellow at The Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. We discussed, among other things: current political development in Slovakia; ideas from his latest books, the rise of authoritarianism, or power of oligarchy; a role of Europe and EU in fighting extremism; and a role of journalism in protecting truth.
