Winding down for Christmas

Last week in Northern Cyprus, I learnt about the New Years Tree, a hybridity that I had not earlier encountered during my travel in Muslim countries (Pavel tells me there are similar things in his country of origin). Judging by the tree in PRIO’s lobby – I am not sure whether it is a Christmas or new year exemplar – we are already well into the new year. Some industrialized tree plant must have started cutting trees mid-summer, and we were among the unlucky customers. Nonetheless, Christmas has not yet started, New Year is day off, and most PRIOites have some relaxing mid-winter days ahead of them.

You all deserve it, after what has been an intense year. We have seen the 50th anniversary, the transition between directors, and the development of a new strategy. We uphold an impressive academic production (not only quantity-wise), we are hyper-active in the public debate (with several ‘new’ voices), and we influence policy (who was it that Barack had consulted for his Oslo lecture?). You may only see yesterday’s blogpost on battle deaths or the one before that on the Cyprus Centre’s activities. Think also about the impressive gender portfolio that we submitted to the MFA today, or the recent issue of International Peacekeeping with Kristoffer as a co-editor. This – and a pile of other things that you do - makes me proud of PRIO.

We meet the new decade with a new strategy. I look eagerly forward to converting the visions of the strategy into concrete action. I look very much forward to working with you all in the New Year. But first, I wish you all the best for the seasonal celebrations ahead of us!