Doctoral School of Law student, Ferdous Rahman, participated in the Academy of European Public Law program (AEPL) of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) for the second time with the help of academic and financial support issued by the International and Regional Studies Institute which received a grant from the Hungarian Ministry of Justice for this purpose. Participation to the two consequent AEPL sessions is necessary in order to fulfill one of the requirements for receiving an Intensive International Master of Law in European Public Law (IILLM) degree. In addition, completing a thesis work of not less than twenty-two thousand words under the guidance of the supervisor assigned by the EPLO is another requirement to obtain the IILLM degree.

In addition to the two weeks of intensive courses and two guest lectures in the third week offered by the Academy in its 27^th session, Ms. Rahman defended her thesis prepared as one of the requirements of the IILLM program before a three-member panel. Her thesis entitled “Determination of Public Purpose by Non-National Adjudicators in International Commercial Disputes” received a successful evaluation by the panel and she received her IILLM degree from the EPLO. The defense thesis was divided into three parts: starting with 10 minutes of presentation on the thesis findings followed by 10 minutes for the questions delivered by the panel and finally, after a secret consultation among the panel members, the student received the final feedbacks from the panel and got a positive evaluation on the thesis.

At the third week of the AEPL, the annual reunion of the European Group of Public Law was held where Ms. Ferdous’ thesis was awarded with the Ortega Thesis Prize, The Ortega Thesis prize is provided for the best thesis of AEPL session in honour of the memory of Professor Luis Ortega, former Director of the Academy of European Public Law. The student had to receive the prize online due to the Covid-19 measures. Nevertheless, the knowledge and research skills acquired throughout the program is an exciting experience for the student, not only for the doctoral studies but also for future endeavours as well as the program offers a great platform for developing professional network.