16/12/2025
A message from Senior Research Fellow, Nick Smith:
As 2025 draws to a close, I want to take the time to recognise that the NCRE is celebrating its Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary).
Over the past 25 years, the NCRE has had tremendous success in growing European and EU Studies in New Zealand, educating generations of students and practitioners about the complexities of the EU and Europe. It also has become globally recognised for pioneering new ways of looking at the EU (namely the perceptions projects) and is likely the most successful (per capita) EU-focused research centre in the world, having secured more than $20 million NZD in funding.
The success of the students who have studied at the NCRE is also a testament to the incredible work this Centre has done over the past 25 years. Our students go on to have very successful careers in an array of fields, and I can safely say that our current cohort of MA and PhD students demonstrates that we are continuing this legacy.
All in all, the NCRE is a remarkable achievement and one person, above all, deserves recognition and kudos for this: Martin Holland.
Martin has been many things to me over the past 17 years. In 2008, I decided to take his level 4 EU course while finishing my Political Science degree and then in 2009, I joined the NCRE as an MA student. What drew me to the NCRE was Martin’s belief in his students and his encouragement that you should follow your passions. This is what led me to do a rather obscure topic for my MA thesis: EU promotion of democracy in Armenia! To this day, I continue to simply follow my passions with my research directions.
In 2011, I joined the NCRE as a financial administrator and, after embarking on my PhD at the University of Auckland, I have since periodically returned to the NCRE for stints as a Postdoc and a Senior Research Fellow. Without Martin, there is no chance I would be an academic, and he has also been there for me in some tough times, such as in the wake of my difficult decision to leave the University of Nottingham during the COVID-19 pandemic.
So, while Martin started as my lecturer, then became my supervisor, and later my boss, the enduring thing is that he is, above everything else, a dear friend.
So, I want to take this moment to offer my congratulations and thanks to Martin for all the blood, sweat, and tears that he has put into making the NCRE what it is over the past 25 years. He has left an indelible mark on the lives of so many people, and I hope we get the opportunity to formally recognise this achievement at a commemorative event next year.
