The ‘European Union in International Affairs’ (EUIA) conference provides a major forum for academics and policy-makers to debate the role of the EU in the turbulent realm of international affairs. The sixth edition of this event will take place from 27 to 29 May 2020 and focus on the theme ‘Assessing the EU’s Capacity to Act’.

Keep an eye on www.euia.eu for further updates. The Call for Papers and Panels will be launched next September.

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.

IES postdoctoral researcher Ferran Davesa was invited to act as a facilitator of the MasterClass ‘The Future of the Council of Europe’, an event organised by the ALL-YOUTH project at the Tampere University (Finland) on 4 February 2019. It consisted of two main parts: 1) a series of expert and academic lectures on the CoE, the European Court of Human Rights and the international system for the protection of human rights; and 2) a hands-on workshop in which the youth participants elaborated a list of Recommendations for the Finnish Presidency of the Council of Europe (21 November 2018 to 17 May 2019). 

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.

On Friday 26 April, the Brussels Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Migration and Minorities (BIRMM) organized its first full research day. BIRMM is a VUB platform for migration and diversity researchers to meet, exchange and cooperate across disciplines.  It is coordinated by IES professors Ilke Adam and Florian Trauner. During the research day, organized by IES researcher Dr. Serena D’Agostino and Dr. Nick Schuermans (Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research), around 30 VUB researchers from many different disciplines presented and discussed their research. 

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.

After her hearing at the European Parliament in December 2018, Trisha Meyer (Assistant Professor at Vesalius College and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for European Studies) returned to Strasbourg to present the results of her study on the use of artificial intelligence to combat disinformation online at the Council of Europe on 28 February 2019. The study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s Panel on the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) and was co-authored with Prof. Marsden (Professor of Internet Law at the University of Sussex). The study focuses on the consequences of automated content moderation for freedom of expression and media pluralism and warns against use of artificial intelligence without human intervention and appeal mechanisms as a solution to disinformation. Prof. Meyer is grateful for the opportunity to exchange views on information disorder and media (dis)trust at the Council of Europe.

The PARENT project (PARticipatory platform for sustainable Energy managemenT) is a citizen-oriented research project empowering people to reduce their electricity consumption through energy monitoring, collaboration and information exchange. The project operates in Brussels, Amsterdam and Bergen. The final conference of the project will take place in Brussels on Tuesday 4 June and Wednesday 5 June 2019. 

What impact will the fascinating, but also challenging drone technology have on our daily lives in Europe? This was only one of many questions discussed during the international conference “The Drone Age: Issues, Actors and Perspectives”, held at the IES on Friday, 22 February 2019. With speakers and participants from Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Germany, this conference provided a great occasion for both academics and stakeholders from different backgrounds to exchange their views on challenges and concerns, but also potentialities of drones today. 

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. 

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.

Korea-Foundation-VUB Korea Chair Dr. Ramon Pacheco Pardo has been invited to teach a course on 'EU and Asia' as part of Seoul National University's International Summer Institute. SNU is Korea's top university. As South Korea's first national university, Seoul National University has a tradition of standing up for democracy and peace on the Korean peninsula. Graduates have long served as public servants in key positions of the Korean government. In teaching, research, and public service, Seoul National University continues to set the standard of excellence. If you would like to find out more about the courses of the Seoul National University International Summer Institute, please visit this website.