In 2018, the Institute for European Studies was honoured to bring four PhDs to fruition: Ferran Davesa (PhD Political Science), Mathias Holvoet (PhD in Law), Carlos Soria Rodrigues (PhD in Law) and Serena D’Agostino (PhD Political Science). The IES organised 57 events and produced 211 publications. Among  these events were the biannual EUIA conference, which was a record-breaking edition, and the large-scale Transatlantic EuroSim (EU simulation) conference hosted by the IES.
The Institute continued to expand and now counts 104 people or 55.4 full-time equivalents. In 2018, IES scholars took part in a total of 131 media appearances. Moreover, the Institute was particularly successful in obtaining externally funded projects. At the end of the year, no less than 38 external projects were conducted by IES scholars, whereas an additional 15 projects were funded through our own budget.

A new 4-year research project entitled “Policy integration: decarbonisation and security of supply in the European Union's external energy policy” is currently taking off at the IES’ cluster on Environment and Sustainable Development. The project explores varying levels of integration of the key policy objectives of decarbonisation and security of supply into the European Union’s external energy policy toward third countries. It specifically focuses on the EU’s external energy policy toward and gas relations with key partner countries (Russia, Norway, Algeria/Azerbaijan).

Dr Jan Claudius Völkel has successfully concluded his two-year research project on “The role of national parliaments in the Arab transformation processes” at the IES. With funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 706113, Jan has studied intensively the legislatures of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, conducting interviews with parliamentarians, diplomats, journalists and civil society representatives in all four countries, and also with representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, as well as EU Delegations. In addition, he spent prolongued research stays at the University of Warwick (UK) and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in Odense.

No less than three publications were recently published by our researcher Elie Perot. In the article published in the policy journal Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, Elie argues that the obscuring of the distinction between war and peace is not a distinctive feature of contemporary times, nor simply a conceptual conundrum. Rather, it is a systemic and strategic response to the persistent fear of a general war at the international level, a factor of crucial importance in the perspective of the growing antagonism characterizing US-China relations.

On 23 January, Ramon Pacheco Pardo was invited by the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights to provide his views during a hearing focused on the gradual opening up of North Korea and on recent diplomatic developments related to the Korean Peninsula, zooming in on the human rights consequences in particular.

In the coming weeks, the Institute for European Studies will organise two webinars. These events are an excellent opportunity for everyone interested in our academic programmes to hear more about them and to ask all their questions. In addition, the IES will be present at the VUB Infodag on 28 April 2019 from 10:00-15:00 and at the Master Messe Düsseldorf on 17 May from 9:00-16:00.

Prof. Ilke Adam, supported by PhD researcher Laura Westerveen, contributed to a new EU Commission report entitled 'The Future of Migration in the European Union: Future scenarios and tools to stimulate forward-looking discussions'. This report presents trends that are likely to impact the future of migration in the EU and delineates four possible future scenarios towards 2030. These narrative scenarios are then applied into a set of interactive tools that stimulate forward-looking and strategic discussions about migration and integration.

Climate policy is currently high up on the political agenda in Belgium, not in the least because of the public demonstrations taking place in various cities since the beginning of 2019. On 5 February, Sign for my future was launched, a new initiative aimed at a more ambitious Belgian climate policy. This initiative is supported by companies, universities and civil society organisations alike. IES researcher Tomas Wyns is one of the members of its Steering Group and, together with VUB rector Caroline Pauwels, also acts as one of its ambassadors.

IES researcher Sara Silvestre successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled ‘Understanding the Negotiation Behaviour of Member States in the Council of the EU: The Case of the Asylum Procedures Directive’. It was a double PhD between the IES (supervisor Prof. Florian Trauner) and ISCTE – The University Institute of Lisbon (supervisors Profs. Robert Ladrech and João Miguel de Carvalho).

The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors of the European Commission's Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) is in the process of producing a Scientific Opinion on the heatedly debated topic of microplastics. The Group’s Initial Statement on this topic was published in July 2018, followed up by a background paper on the microplastic pollution policy context in November 2018, and thereafter an Evidence Review Report authored by an interdisciplinary consortium of scientists (SAPEA). In the 10-11 January expert workshop, the state of scientific knowledge on micro-plastics was discussed on the basis of the SAPEA report and other input, and aimed at facilitating the formulation of the Scientific Opinion. 

On 12 February, Jamal Shahin spoke about the GIPO project at a workshop hosted by the European Cyber Security Organisation, specifically their subworking group on telecom, media and content (SWG3.8). There, Jamal talked about the importance of bringing together different stakeholders in shaping the future of internet governance.

The Institute for European Studies has two new vacancies for full-time Doctoral Researchers. The first PhD call is in the field of environment and sustainable development, and the other one is in the field of migration and diversity. Prospective PhD candidates are hereby invited to submit their application and project proposal by 15 May 2019. For both vacancies the expected starting date is 1 October, or as soon as possible thereafter. For more information, visit our jobs page. 

The European Commission and antitrust regulators worldwide are focusing their policy and enforcement priorities on key aspects of the digital economy including e-commerce, big data and algorithms. Blockchain appears to be now next in line for scrutiny.  On 16 January 2019, the IES assembled a unique expert panel to explore and debate the “promises and perils” of this emerging and transformative technology in the antitrust context.  The panel was led by Dave Anderson, IES Associate Researcher (and Head of the Brussels office of the law firm BCLP LLP), and it included a diverse spectrum of expertise on blockchain and antitrust: Fabio Falconi from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, Pontus Lindblom who has been commissioned by the Swedish Competition Authority to advise them on blockchain, Thibault Schrepel from Utrecht University who is a leading commentator on the antitrust risks involved in blockchain and Falk Schöning from the law firm Hogan Lovells who participated e.g. in the OECD Blockchain roundtable last year as a private sector...