‘I am honoured to inform you that you have been awarded the Serge Lazareff

Prize for outstanding support and cooperation with NATO's Legal Services’ are

the opening words of the letter sent by Andrés Muñoz Mosquera, Legal Adviser

of the NATO Supreme Commander and Director of the Allied Command

Operations (ACO) Office of Legal Affairs, to José Luis Mendoza, President of

the Universidad Católica de Murcia, informing him of the award in recognition of

his work in collaboration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

This award, which is also held by King Felipe VI, is given to individuals and

institutions that promote NATO values. In this regard, UCAM has an agreement

with the Alliance to develop different lines of collaboration, in particular research

work in the field of security and defence. In addition, postgraduate courses such

as the Master's Degree in European Union Studies and Human Rights and the

Master's Degree in International Relations are offered, both of which include

several members of NATO's Legal Services as lecturers.

Another action that materialises UCAM's commitment to the field of defence is

the Master's Degree in Military Law, in which UCAM gives scholarships to the

top graduates of the Spanish Army, Civil Guard, Navy, Air Force and Military

Legal Corps who are being trained at the General Military Academy. Among

other activities, students of this postgraduate course visit NATO's facilities in

Brussels, to get a first-hand look at how the Alliance operates. Furthermore, the

Los Jerónimos Campus hosts an annual series of lectures on Security and

Defence.

At the same time, UCAM’s solidarity work on behalf of the victims of armed

conflicts is worthy of special mention. For instance, in 2022 it set up the

Plataforma Universitaria por la Paz (University Platform for Peace), which has

helped the victims of the war in Ukraine by sending several shipments of

humanitarian material and bringing refugee families to Spain.