The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) is pleased to announce the inauguration of the Karel Schwarzenberg Fellowship, established in memory of the eminent Czech-Austrian statesman and politician. We are delighted to welcome Věra Jourová, former Vice President of the European Commission and current Vice Rector of Charles University in Prague, as the inaugural fellow.
The fellowship honors Schwarzenberg’s legacy and achievements as a politician and diplomat, as well as his lifelong commitment to freedom and human rights. Within the framework of this program, distinguished fellows are invited to spend one month at the Institute to pursue research on issues central to Schwarzenberg’s intellectual and political engagement.
It is aimed at individuals whose work and ideas have eminently shaped public debate, especially related, though not exclusively, to Europe’s history and its future, the prospects of Central Europe, the protection of human rights, the strengthening of civil society, diplomacy, philanthropism, and freedom of thought.
The Fellowship will be inaugurated at a joint event by the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Vienna and the IWM. Věra Jourová will give a lecture titled Democracies under Stress at the Embassy on 19 February. Czech Ambassador Jiří Šitler will host the event. Anna Durnova, professor of sociology at the University of Vienna, will moderate a discussion between Ms. Jourová and IWM Rector Misha Glenny.
Karel Schwarzenberg (1937–2023) was a Czech-Austrian politician and highly respected statesman. During the communist era, he was a staunch supporter of dissenting voices. From 1984 to 1991, Schwarzenberg was the chairman of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. After 1990, he became chancellor under the newly elected Czechoslovak president Václav Havel, and later served as the Czech minister of foreign affairs from 2007 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2013. Schwarzenberg was a longstanding friend of the Institute and, for many years, chaired the IWM’s Board of Patrons.
Věra Jourová is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality from 2014 to 2019 and as Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency from 2019 to 2024. She was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic between 2013 and 2014 and the Czech Minister for Regional Development in 2014. In 2019, Time Magazine ranked Jourová on its list of the 100 most influential people of the year, citing her role in the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation and new privacy rights as European Commissioner.
