Jacinda Arden at the Inauguration of the 2023/2024 Academic Year of the University of Bologna

Jacinda Arden will be the guest of honour at the inauguration ceremony of the academic year 2023/2024 of the University of Bologna, the 936th since its foundation. The event, which will also be attended by the Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, will take place on Wednesday 20 March, at 4 p.m., at the Teatro Auditorium Manzoni in Bologna (Via de' Monari, 1/2 - Bologna) and live streaming on Youtube. Rector Giovanni Molari will present the former New Zealand prime minister with the University Sigillum Magnum, the highest honour of the University of Bologna.

After the speech held by Rector Giovanni Molari, the Representative of Professional staff, Federico Barbino, and the Student Representative, Francesca Saccardi, will address the audience. Then, the Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, will take the floor, and following that, Jacinda Ardern will deliver a keynote lecture titled "Leadership in the age of crisis", before receiving the Sigillum Magnum.

On the same evening, at 9:00 p.m., in the Aula Absidale of Santa Lucia, the traditional concert for the inauguration of the Academic Year will take place, featuring the Collegium Musicum Orchestra directed by Alissia Venier, performing Mozart’s repertoire.

Jacinda Ardern was born in Hamilton, New Zealand. She graduated in Political Sciences and Public Relations at the Waikato Management School in 2001.

After graduating, she worked as a consultant in the office of the then Prime Minister Helen Clark, in London, for the Cabinet Office of the British government and at the Department for business and enterprise. She also worked on a review of police activities in England and Wales.

She joined the New Zealand Labour Party at the age of 18 and entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2008. She became Prime Minister of New Zealand in October 2017 and left the office in January 2023.

In 2019, after the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, she launched the Christchurch Call, an initiative aiming at removing violent content and hate speech from digital platforms.

In 2022, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Harvard University and in 2023 she was appointed a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

She is on the board of trustees of the Earthshot Prize, one of the most prestigious environmental awards, and a member of the organisation Conservation International that aims at preserving the global biodiversity of plants, animals, and landscapes.