On Thursday, 29 January 2026, starting at 12:00, the Institute for European Studies organizes a Saint Sava Lecture by Arnaud Gouillon, Director of the Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy
PUBLIC AND CULTURAL DIPLOMACY IN PRACTICE
He was born in 1985 in Grenoble (France). He completed his primary education in his hometown of Jarrie and secondary education in Vizille. At the age of 22, he obtained the degree of Master Engineer in Environmental Protection at the Polytechnic School of the University of Grenoble. In 2012, he attended a Master’s program in Political Science at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, track “Political System of Serbia and Institutions”. From 2007 to 2010, he worked as an engineer in several companies in Paris, Bordeaux, Cairo, and Zvornik. In 2011, he became the director of the French humanitarian organization “Solidarity for Kosovo”, which he founded in 2005 while still a student. In 2016, in Belgrade, he founded the Association Initiative for Birth Rate and Youth Retention in Serbia (INOMS), with the aim of encouraging young people to remain in Serbia through positive and successful examples from the country, as well as by demystifying the idealized image of life abroad. From November 2020 to June 2024, he served as Acting Director of the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. By a decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in June 2024, he was appointed Acting Director of the Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. He is the author of the book “All My Roads Lead to Serbia”. He also participated in writing and publishing three books in French about Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija: Au cœur de l’Europe Martyre (Éditions L’Âge d’Homme, 2013), Peuples persécutés d’Orient (Éditions du Rocher, 2016), and À la Serbie (Un Infini Cercle Bleu, 2020). He directed the documentary film “Kosovo: Christianity in Danger” about the life of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, which was broadcast on RTS as well as on the French television channel KTO. In recognition of his humanitarian work, he was granted Serbian citizenship in 2015. He is also the recipient of several awards and decorations:
- 2012 – Special Plaque for the Most Noble Deed of the Year, awarded by the company Večernje novosti.
- 2016 – Gold Medal for Exceptional Merits in the Field of Humanitarian Work, awarded by the President of the Republic of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolić.
- 2017 – “Branislav Mane Šakić” Award for the preservation of the Serbian language and the cultivation of speech culture in electronic media.
- 2018 – Order of Saint Bishop Nikolaj, the highest decoration of the Diocese of Šabac, “for great love for the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija and humanitarian work.”
- 2018 – Order of Saint Sava, First Class, “for effective love demonstrated through wholehearted and selfless engagement in collecting and providing necessary material and financial assistance for our Holy Church and the suffering people in Kosovo and Metohija.”
- 2018 – Charter of the Knight of Saint Sava Pacifism, awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, for humanitarian work in Kosovo and Metohija and for advocacy in France aimed at changing the image of Serbia.
In addition to his native French, he speaks Serbian, English, and Russian. He is married to Ivana, a Serbian woman born in France, and they have two daughters, Milena and Irena, and a son, Viktor.
The audience can follow the lecture live, as well as via the Zoom application, with prior registration at the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__5u2VRApRGiLPbrY6rO8pA