In 2024, the year marking the 700th anniversary of the death of one of the world’s great explorers, Marco Polo, the University of Warwick is proud to partner with Ca Foscari and with 35 other global institutions to launch the Marco Polo International Programme
There have been – and will be – many celebrations of Marco Polo undertaken by many here in Venice and around the world. The Marco Polo International Programme, however, stands out because it brings together our researchers, students and local communities, in collaboration with the researchers, students and local communities of many of our University partners around the globe, to push forward the boundaries of scholarship, discovery and engagement not just about Marco Polo, but also in relation to a number of explorers, goods and ideas, which have criss-crossed different parts of the world through time.
The Programme as a result champions the power, importance and impact of cultural interaction, engagement and discovery – both in the past and in the present – and underlines Warwick’s ongoing commitment to creating connections across cultures and across the globe.
At the same time our students – and those from a wide number of our global University partners – will be developing their own skills in global engagement by taking part in Warwick’s International Conference of Undergraduate Research, as well as celebrating their similarities and differences on our campus through our Global Celebrations ‘One World week’ and International Students Day programme.
And together with our local communities, we will be celebrating the global cultures of Coventry through Warwick’s Resonate Festival of Arts and World Cultures, as well as coming together to celebrate the power of the Olympics with schools across our Coventry community.
I offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been involved in making the Marco Polo International Programme a reality in Warwick, Venice and across our global partners.
Check out the programme www.warwick.ac.uk/mpip and particularly have a chat with our AI Marco Polo created for the programme to help engage with the past in a whole new way: www.marcopolopro.co.uk