At the beginning of our rather exceptional COVID-19 summer, thirty international students participated in the Inter-University Summer School on EU Policy-Making. This was the 17th edition of our long-standing summer programme, but different from previous years, the intensive two-week course was held online from 6-17 July 2020. 

The summer school attracts students and young professionals who wish to broaden their knowledge of the European institutions, European law and the European decision-making process in general. The summer school can be taken as a stand-alone course (5 ECTS) or as part of the Post-Graduate Programme on EU Policy-Making. 

On 1 October 2020, the newly established Japan Program officially started its activities at the VUB’s Institute for European Studies (IES). Set up with the support of the Japan Foundation, the Program aims to enhance awareness of Japan’s foreign and security policy, steer the European debate on current security issues in East Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region, as well as to promote Japan’s cooperation with the EU and NATO.

​From 1 to 12 February 2021, the IES will organise the very first edition of its online Jean Monnet Winter School on EU Policy-Making, in collaboration with its partners the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. This Winter School will build on the long-standing expertise of the similar (offline) Summer School that the IES and its partners have organised for almost 20 years.

On 9 October 2020 Laura Westerveen successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Ethno-racial (In)equality in Belgium and Germany: Understanding Policy Frames”. Laura’s dissertation explores the framing of inequalities along ethno-racial lines in policy discourses. In particular, it identifies different types of ‘policy frames’ surrounding these inequalities in Belgian and German education and employment policies. 
 

In September 2020, Prof. Dr. Kristin Henrard joined the Institute for European Studies as Senior Researcher in its Migration, Diversity and Justice (MDJ) team. Kristin Henrard was also appointed at Vesalius College as a Professor of International Law and Programme Director of its BA in International and European Law. She has more than 160 publications, a substantial part of which pertain to the areas of human rights and minorities, ranging from educational rights, linguistic rights, to the prohibition of (racial) discrimination (the various dimensions of the right to equal treatment), socio-economic and political participation and religious fundamental rights.

With two new H2020 projects on migration and immigrant integration, one FWO postdoctoral project on immigration policies, and a European research project on the BLM movement, the IES’ Migration, Diversity and Justice (MDJ) research cluster has had a particularly successful year with respect to research grants. 

On Tuesday 29 September, the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development launched their global report, “Balancing Act: Countering digital disinformation while respecting freedom of expression.” This research was led by Prof. Kalina Bontcheva (University of Sheffield)  and Dr. Julie Posetti (International Center for Journalists) along with international researchers and contributing authors, including Prof. Trisha Meyer (VECO-IES). The work charts the wide range of responses to disinformation across the world, focusing on the effects of these measures on freedom of opinion and expression.

On 4 September 2020, IES PhD Candidate Klaudia Majcher successfully defended her PhD thesis on “Coherence between EU Data Protection and Competition Law in the Digital Market”. Klaudia’s PhD supervisors were Prof. Dr. Harri Kalimo (LLM Programme Director & Research Professor at the IES) and Prof. Ben Smulders (Director and Principal Legal Advisor in the European Commission). The committee was also comprised of VUB Prof. Caroline Buts and VUB Prof. Christopher Kuner, and jury members Dr. Orla Lynskey (Associate Professor of Law at the London School of Economics) and Prof. Peggy Valcke (Professor of Law at KU Leuven Center for IT & IP Law).