On the occasion of the ADAPTED Final Conference, the Honorary Doctorate of a Ph.D. in International Development Studies (Ph.D. IDS h.c.) has been awarded to Prof. Wil Hout for in recognition of his internationally acknowledged academic publications in the fields of development studies, international relations and development governance and of his excellence in creating, inspiring and leading impactful international interdisciplinary IDS-networks for research, academic cooperation and consultancy.

Wil Hout is professor of Governance and International Political Economy at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam and involved in cooperation activities with the IEE since more than a decade.

As part of the ADAPTED Final Conference programme in Cape Town, South Africa, Wil Hout was awarded the Ph.D.IDS h.c. in a ceremony consisting of a keynote speech on the "revival of geopolitics and its developmental implications" by Prof. Christof Hartmann and laudatory speech deliverd by Prof. Wilhelm Löwenstein.