Three distinguished international scientists were solemnly awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of Vilnius University at St John's Church on 10 October of the current year. The three honourees include Professor Hans Kjeldsen from Aarhus University in Denmark, Professor Daniel Petit from the School for Advanced Studies at Sorbonne University, and Professor Anna Pikulska-Radomska from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Lodz.
Professor Pikulska-Radomska was honoured for her close and long-term relations with Vilnius University, strengthening cooperation within the academic partnership and significant contribution to the development of legal studies at the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University.
Everything started, quite simple. The first impulse for our relations was my encounter with Vytautas Nekrošius at a conference in Lublin. We started talking about anything and everything, and it was quite an important conversation. At this time, I had just obtained habilitation degree and I eagerly suggested to advance Vytautas’ habilitation process at our Faculty of Law at the University of Lodz. Vytautas was the first colleague from Vilnius to get habilitation in Lodz. And the second followed soon. It was Gintaras Švedas.
The partnership between our faculties flourished. It started with Roman Law and Civil Procedure but it soon expanded to all disciplines of law. We often invited colleagues from Vilnius and were also invited by them. The representation of our university with the Rector Prof. Antoni Różalski participated in the anniversary of the Vilnius University Faculty of Law in 2016. At that time, Prof. Tomas Davulis was the Dean of the faculty. Today we have a similar occasion: the 383rd anniversary. My congratulations and best wishes!
We have organised joint conferences and co-authored publications. The cooperation with the specialists in constitutional law: Haroldas Šinkūnas and Dariusz Górecki, Krzysztof Skotnicki is particularly vivid.
And there is also the International Network of Doctoral Studies in Law!
My numerous visits to Vilnius have always been very interesting and informative on academic side but also gave me great pleasure resulting from our friendly relations. We all know how it works: no sensible cooperation is possible without good understanding between involved persons, collegiality and friendship. And indeed, I have found friends and close colleagues in Vilnius. It is thanks to them that Lithuania and Vilnius became so close to me.
In conclusion: before our cooperation started, neither I nor my family had any connections with Lithuania or Vilnius. Today, Vilnius is my second home. I love this city, this university and people living and working here – as if I were born in Vilnius. This is why I decided to leave a symbol of my feelings here, in the city. I will go to the famous Uzopio bridge to leave my lock there as a symbol of my emotions.
– Prof. Pikulska-Radomska said in her speech.
We would like to offer our sincere congratulations to Professor Pikulska-Radomska!
Photo: VUJonuBaznycia©Terekas