The lecture marks the inauguration of the new Interdepartmental School in International Relations, which has grown out of the highly successful second level degree course in International Relations introduced by the Faculty of Languages (where forty languages are taught), and the vocation of Ca’ Foscari as an international university attentive to the profound developments taking place in today’s rapidly changing world. The speaker, Christopher Prentice CMG, took up his appointment as HM ambassador to Italy in January 2011. After reading Classics at the University of Oxford, he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1977 and has spent much of his career on Middle East affairs, including postings in Kuwait and later as Ambassador in Amman and Baghdad. He was also recently appointed UK Special Envoy for Libya in Benghazi.

The Gulf Research Center Foundation in cooperation with the Venice Foundation supports the Chair held by Prof. Matteo Legrenzi as Associate Professor for International Relations and Gulf Studies at the Università Ca’Foscari Venezia.