Amitav Ghosh and Michael Ignatieff at Dies Natalis

Michael Ignatieff (1947) is a Canadian writer, journalist, academic and influencer avant la lettre. Between 2006 and 2011, he served as an MP in Canada and as leader of the country’s Liberal Party. Ignatieff is currently the rector and president of Central European University. He is a forceful proponent of the concept of an open society.

Read more about his ideas in Lessons in freedom and hope from a preternatural optimist.

Lecture
On 24 January, Michael Ignatieff will deliver a lecture on democracy, tolerance, justice and other key values of open societies. The venue: the Statenzaal of the UM Faculty of Law.

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Amitav Ghosh (1956) was born in Calcutta, studied in Delhi and earned his PhD in social anthropology at the University of Oxford. He is an award-winning novelist whose writings are informed by global history, literature studies, politics and climate change.

Read more about Ghosh in How can the world be so blind to this?

Lecture
On 23 January, Amitav Ghosh will deliver a lecture titled Can the non-human speak? Other Beings in Myth, Literature and Ethnography. The venue: Franz Palm Lecture Hall.

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Maastricht University celebrates its 43rd anniversary in the Sint Janskerk, Maastricht, on Friday, 25 January 2019. The theme of this year's celebration is: Global Challenges – Future Imaginations.

Titled 'Our commitment, their future: the SDGs and young people', this year’s Dies lecture will be delivered by Sigrid Kaag, Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.

More information about the event.