Ambassador hosts reception to celebrate Keele launching pioneering joint PhDs with Moroccan universities

A new joint doctoral programme between Keele University and four leading Moroccan Universities has been formally launched at a prestigious reception held by the British Ambassador to Morocco.
The new joint doctoral programme between Keele and Ibn Tofail University, Hassan 1st University, Hassan II University, and Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, marks the first ever UK-Morocco PhD partnership programme and will see 10 PhD researchers from Morocco travelling to the UK as part of their degree.
The launch was hosted and sponsored by the British Ambassador to Morocco, HMA Simon Martin, in his official residence in Rabat, with the support of the British Council in Morocco.
The 10 PhD researchers who are taking part in the scheme were guests at the event, while speakers at the ceremony included Morocco's Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Professor Azzedine Midaoui; and Professor Mariangela Palladino, the Dean of Research in Keele’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, who spearheaded the initiative in collaboration with Keele’s Dr Mario Prost, the Faculty's Postgraduate Research Director.
The Director of the British Council in Morocco, Alexandra Balafrej-Dhorne, also spoke at the event, with both her and the Ambassador speaking highly of the partnership and its potential for UK-Morocco relations.
Professor Palladino said: “What a privilege it has been to lead on these partnerships on behalf of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the institution as a whole. Establishing dual PhD programs between Keele and Moroccan universities is a stepping stone to opening up further research alliances and collaborations. I am also thrilled to have met our first cohort of Doctoral Researchers and celebrated with them in such a special setting.”
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