Upcoming Events
On 5 December Silviu was invited to speak at the NORTIA Practitioner-Academic Roundtable ‘EU Foreign Policy Cooperation: Quo Vadis EU Diplomacy in the EaP?’ event held at Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. The roundtable brought together practitioners and academics to discuss the role and practice of EU diplomacy in achieving the goals of the EU Global Strategy in building state and societal resilience in the neighbourhood, of engagement in a practical and principled way of peacebuilding and supporting global governance around the world. 
On 15 October, IES researchers Medlir Mema and Mathias Holvoet organized a policy forum addressing the potential implications of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, KSC, in Kosovo. The event was held at the University of Business and Technology, UBT, in Prishtina. Participants of the policy forum echoed a general sentiment that the political nature of the court has hurt its legitimacy before indictments have even begun. 
The Flemish Education Council (VLOR – Vlaamse Onderwijsraad) has recently issued a strategic exploratory report about education for refugees in Flanders. IES postdoctoral researcher Mohammad Salman, who between 2015 and 2017 established and led a programme to bring highly educated refugees to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, contributed to the report by providing specific advice to VLOR based on his extensive experience in this subject matter.
On Tuesday 27.11. the European Parliament organized the 10th European Innovation Summit. These summits address hot topics on the EU’s policy agenda, highlighting developments in areas crucial for the Union’s competitiveness and sustainable development. The 10thSummit kicked off with a session “Tackling Microplastics with Sustainable Solutions”. Microplastics refer to the very small pieces of plastics that are either intentionally added to products (such as make-up, cleaners and toothpaste) or detach from larger plastic objects as they wear down (e.g. car tyres, textiles) or fragment over a longer period of time (e.g. plastic bottles). An interdisciplinary group of top scientists elaborated on the current state knowledge on microplastics in the 10th Summit. 
The prevention of violent radicalisation as part of counter-terrorism measures is a top priority of the European Union and national security agendas. In 2015 Belgium introduced promising reforms in countering radicalisation and terrorism that aimed at connecting not only intelligence, security and police services across different policy levels but also the multitude of other stakeholders representing the government and civil society. However, the implementation and further development of the Belgian approach to prevention of radicalisation remain contested in political and public debate. 
IES researcher Jan Claudius Völkel organised an international conference on 15-16 December 2018 in Tunis with ca. 30 participants from different Arab countries, who were invited to discuss aspects of “Parliamentary work and scientific counselling” (so the conference theme) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The conference was one of the main deliverables of his EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship “The role of national parliaments in the Arab transformation processes”, that Jan is currently conducting at the IES [grant number 706113].
Trisha Meyer (Assistant Professor at Vesalius College and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for European Studies) recently concluded a study on the use of artificial intelligence to combat disinformation online. The study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s STOA (Future of Science and Technology) panel and focuses on the consequences of automated content moderation for freedom of expression and media pluralism. On 13 December 2018, she presented the study with her co-author Chris Marsden (Professor of Internet Law at the University of Sussex) in Strasbourg.
IES Research Professor 
The VUB educational services organize regular Get Inspired! -sessions to VUB staff, where peers present perspectives in educational and research practices to inspire one another. On Tuesday 4 December the session zoomed in on sharing practices on benchmarking of educational programmes; invited to speak in the session was IES professor Harri Kalimo.
On 19 October the Migration, Diversity and Justice cluster organised the kick-off and internal networking meeting of the new VUB’s Brussels Interdisciplinary Research centre on Migration and Minorities, called BIRMM. The group has been created in January 2018 and joined IMISCOE, the largest network of migration research centres in Europe, as an institutional member in July. BIRMM gathers over 60 VUB researchers working on migration and diversity related topics, mostly in social sciences (sociology, political science, communication science, criminology), history, philosophy and law. BIRMM is coordinated by Prof. Ilke Adam and Prof. Florian Trauner (both IES-VUB) and a board of delegates with one representative per research centre or department. 
With the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the Jean Monnet Network on Governing the EU’s Climate and Energy Transition in Turbulent Times or GOVTRAN brings together a broad range of scholars interested in climate and energy governance in the European Union. GOVTRAN reaches out to the wider epistemic community and actively fosters engagement with policymakers and the broader public in this field. The project is coordinated by the IES’ research cluster on Environment and Sustainable Development (Prof. Sebastian Oberthür) and implemented in collaboration with three other universities: Ghent University, the University of East Anglia and the University of Eastern Finland. 
The roundtable ‘Towards Reunification or Confrontation: Assessing recent developments on the Korean Peninsula’ was held on 18 October, from 12.00 to 14.00, at the Press Association of Madrid (Claudio Coello 98, Madrid). It was jointly organised by 
IES Academic Director, 
On November 28, Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) hosted a speech by IES President Karel De Gucht on the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement and the future of the liberal international order. Keidanren Chairman, Mr. Shimizu, held the opening address with about thirty Keidanren members attending. As the former EU Commissioner for trade, Mr. De Gucht gave a key speech, in 2013, at Keidanren formally announcing the start of negotiations of the Japan-EU EPA later that year.
The Institute for European Studies (IES) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is partnering with 9 European institutions in the framework of a new project JP-COOPS funded by the European Commission DG JUST (Justice Action Grant). The main coordinator of the project is the University of Malta. In the next 2.5 years, JP-COOPS aims to reinforce judicial and police cooperation in 26 EU Member States through expanding and strengthening existing training networks. 
In its energy vision of 19 May 2017 the Flemish government indicated that it supports the European long-term goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by at least 80% to 95%. The role that the industry will play in this transition towards a low carbon economy is of course vital in this respect.
VUB Rector Caroline Pauwels has repeatedly called for tearing down ‘disciplinary walls and fragmentation’ within the VUB. Inspired by such a vision, VUB scholars led by IES professors Ilke Adam and Florian Trauner have created the ‘Brussels Interdisciplinary Research centre on Migration and Minorities (BIRMM)’. It brings together over 90 VUB researchers from 10 disciplines. BIRMM has the ambition to become a key point of reference for VUB research on migration and minorities-related topics and to act as the university’s transmission belt to the outside world. 
In cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and with the support of the Institute for European Studies (IES/VUB), the ALL-YOUTH project calls on youth/young researchers to apply for the MasterClass: “The Future of the Council of Europe”. The session will take place on Monday 4 February 2019 at the Tampere University, Finland.
On 10 October, IES Prof. Dr. Marie Lamensch presented her study on VAT fraud written at the request of the European Parliament’s TAX3 Committee, a special committeeon financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidancethat was set up in March 2018 after Luxleaks, the Panama papers, and other tax related scandals. TAX3 aims to build on the work of its predecessors and investigate new issues, such as digital taxation, national citizenship programmes and VAT fraud.
On 28 November, the European Commission launched its long term strategy for emission reductions, entitled ‘A clean planet for all – A European strategic long term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive an climate neutral economy’.
The IES LLM (PILC) and Euromaster students made their traditional visit to the Berlaymont building on 7 November. During the meeting, they attended the Press Briefing, given by the Chief spokesperson of the Commission, Margaritis Schinas. The event was lively, with topics ranging from the Italian budget to endocrine disruptors, and BREXIT of course. 
Research internationalisation is vital for an open and modern university like the VUB. International research co-operation brings impact, visibility, quality, and (of course) funding. But internationalisation can have its dark sides: the problems of human rights violations, industrial espionage, and working with questionable regimes cannot be ignored, particularly when they touch the VUB community directly. During this session on 4 December, the VUB research community discussed the challenges of international collaboration with a panel of policy-makers.IES in the media...
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Ramon Pacheco Pardo
Former North Korean diplomat urges missing colleague in Italy to go to South Korea, not U.S.
7 Jan 2019
In: Reuters
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Tongfi Kim
U.S. Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic Alliances: A Comparison
6 Jan 2019
In: Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
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Ramon Pacheco Pardo
Seoul dips its toe in the Indo-Pacific
5 Jan 2019
In: East Asia Forum
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Ramon Pacheco Pardo
North Korean ambassador to Italy reportedly disappears
4 Jan 2019
In: ABC Radio
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IES is a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at the 