On September 16, the outstanding British historian Professor Robert Ian Frost received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bialystok. He is the 23rd person, including the 4th from abroad, to whom the Senate of University of Białystok granted this dignity.
Prof. Robert I. Frost is an outstanding historian and academic teacher from Scotland. He is a professor at the University of Aberdeen. Scientifically, he deals with the history of Eastern and Northern Europe from the 14th to the 19th century, with particular emphasis on the history of Poland and Lithuania. He is the author of, among others: "The Oxford History of the Polish-Lithuanian Union".
On September 16, this outstanding historian joined the group of honorary doctors of the University of Białystok. The ceremony took place in the auditorium of Janusz Korczak in Faculty of Educational Sciences. It was attended by representatives of the largest university in Podlasie, the world of science, historians, journalists and the closest relatives of the honorary doctor. The ceremonial meeting of the university Senate was chaired by the Rector of the University of Białystok, prof. Mariusz Popławski.
Laudation in honor of prof. Frost was delivered by prof. dr hab. Cezary Kuklo from the Faculty of History of the University of Białystok.
The group of those honored with this highest dignity of the University of Białystok, next to outstanding figures of scientific, cultural and spiritual life from Poland and abroad, is joined as the twenty-third but fourth foreigner, professor of the University of Abeerden, Robert Ian Frost, for his original studies on the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Two Nations, which constitute an innovative attempt to understand the heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian union, the common history of Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians and Ukrainians which was reflected in the doctoral diploma - recalled prof. Cezary Kuklo. In his opinion, it is to Professor Robert Frost that we owe a different and new view, more consistent with reality, on the multinational and multi-religious Polish-Lithuanian state, built - as the author strongly emphasizes - both from below and from above, always along the path of even the most difficult negotiations, never through war.
About the merits and outstanding achievements of prof. Robert Frost was also spoken by the reviewers of the title award procedure: prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Mikulski from the Nicolaus Copernicus University, prof. dr hab. Andrzej Rachuba from the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the already mentioned prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Zamorski from the Jagiellonian University. They emphasized that Robert Frost is not only an outstanding historian but also a wonderful man and artist. As a scientist he objectively presented to the world what the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was. How and why the honorary doctor of the University of Bialystok decided to research, among others, Professor Robert I. Frost himself spoke about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, giving a lecture during the ceremony entitled "The Road to History".
Thank you all for kind words, I cannot express how much this honor means to me. I would like to thank the Senate of the University of Bialystok for it. It is not the oldest university of Poland but both in its previous incarnation as a branch of the University of Warsaw and since its establishment as a full-fledged university, it quickly bacame an outstanding and well-regarded university in many fields. I have been impressed by the work of its historians. My own University in Aberdeen is older but was also founded in the far north of the country to provide education to a region that was brimming with talented people but stood somewhat away from traditional intellectual centres - said Prof. Robert I. Frost.
On September 17, prof. Robert I. Frost took part in the ceremonil opening of the 21st General Congress of Polish Historians and delivered a lecture entitled "The Phenomenon of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth".
