Student profile: More than a source of funding
Kubo Mačák believes that without his scholarship he would not now be studying at Oxford. Kubo, an MPhil student in Law at Somerville College, was among the first cohort of Weidenfeld Scholars at Oxford. ‘I did have other funding opportunities that I might have been able to patch together somehow, but the full scholarship has really made it possible.’
Kubo was born in Košice, Slovakia and completed his undergraduate studies in law at Charles University, Prague. He came up to Oxford in October 2007 and has made the fullest use of the opportunities that studying here has helped open up for him. This has included several months of work experience at both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague in Holland, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania. ‘Both were very hard work and at times distressing’, says Kubo, ‘but invaluable experience.’
He has also continued to enjoy an interest he took up as an undergraduate – mooting. Building on his success in earlier competitions in Washington, DC, and Zagreb, Kubo paired up with a fellow law student for the Shearman & Sterling Oxford Moot Competition at the University. From an initial entry of 60 teams, they were placed second overall, having been the only non-native speakers in the final round. Kubo has also continued to make a contribution to creating opportunities for others, dedicating some of his holiday time to an innovative project in Belarus. He authored the course module and curriculum for the Voice of Svetlogorsk Debate Academy, and facilitates sessions during the one-week course which explains the art and skills of public speaking and advocacy to groups of Belarusian secondary school students. Along with a fellow Slovak debater and a friend of his, he also designed and secured funding for an extension to the project into a two-week training programme for teachers.
After completing a Taught MJur, with Distinction, at Oxford in July 2008, Kubo took a year away to build on his practical experience at the International Tribunals before returning to focus on his MPhil research into the Internationalisation of Armed Conflicts. He lived in college for part of his first year, but now shares a house with his brother Matej, who is studying neuroscience as an MRC scholarship-funded postgraduate student at Merton College.
Having experienced the teaching and practice of law outside Slovakia, Kubo feels strongly that he has much to offer the development of the subject in his own country. He expects to return there at some point in his future career, to combine teaching with a role in the public legal system. Reflecting on his time at Oxford, Kubo says: ‘It has been intense and challenging but very enjoyable. The Weidenfeld Scholarship has made a huge difference. It made it possible for me to come to Oxford. It has also introduced me to talented people from many other countries, and enhanced the opportunities that being at the University has given me to engage in discussion and debate at a very high level. It has been very much more than a source of funding.’