1 July, 5PM: our 2020 graduates count on you! | Jonas Lefevere co-authors 'De Stemming'

IES/VeCo’s Jonas Lefevere co-authors extensive survey 'De Stemming'

For a study commissioned by the Flemish public broadcaster (VRT) and the newspaper De Standaard, Jonas Lefevere (Vesalius College / Institute for European Studies) and Stefaan Walgrave (UAntwerp) conducted an extensive survey of Flemish voters in an effort to track evolutions in political opinion since the May 2019 general elections in Belgium. Because the survey was fielded in the middle of the Corona pandemic, it was decided to also include extensive measurements of attitudes towards the lockdown, government performance, and the ongoing political crisis that culminated in the formation of the minority government Wilmès.

Alexandra Mihai defends her PhD thesis

On 6 July, at 11AM IES Associate Researcher Alexandra Mihai will defend her PhD in Educational Sciences. Alexandra’s thesis is entitled: "Teaching Politics with Technology at European Universities: The Interplay between Technology and Pedagogy in Political Science as a Teaching Discipline". Her dissertation explores the way technology is integrated in the teaching practice and institutional structures at European universities in the case of political science as a teaching discipline and is supervised by Prof. Dr. Frederik Questier & Prof. Dr. Chang Zhu (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel). Given the current social distancing measures, the PhD defence will take place online. To register for this event, please check the Events page of the IES website the coming days.

Book on European governance of emerging security technologies out soon

We are happy to announce the publication of a new book edited by our IES Associates Dr. Antonio Calcara, Dr. Raluca Csernatoni, and Dr. Chantal Lavallée, featuring a chapter by IES Associate Dr. Daniel Fiott. The book is suggested to those interested in science and technology studies, security studies, and EU policy. It will be out this summer, but it is now available for pre-order.

New Policy Brief: European Recovery post-COVID19 and the Green Deal

The COVID-19 crisis has not only brought social and economic life to a standstill but has also posed a fresh challenge to the relevance of the EU, in particular regarding its capability to deal with such a crisis. EU member states have since grappled with individual coping measures and exit strategies. A coordinated European response has been weak if not missing. Launched in December 2019, the EU’s green deal, an estimated multi-trillion euros initiative, set up to ensure a sustainable transition to carbon neutrality by 2050, has also been put under question.

New book on EU-UK partnership

Brexit is an irreversible fact. Everyone will be worse off. But what are the exact ramifications, for the UK, the EU, and the partnership between the two? This book, with a contribution from IES Vice-Dean for Research Prof. Alexander Mattelaer, examines the political, economic, social and institutional implications of the UK's departure from the EU in different policy fields, including trade, defence and security, foreign policy, judicial cooperation, migration and mobility, as well as its impact on UK politics and EU integration. Besides thinking through the consequences of Brexit, the authors consider the ongoing negotiations and the possibility of the EU and UK failing to agree on a deal before 31 December 2020. They also look at the dramatic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The full-text version of this publication is available online.