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Centre for European Research

Dear Colleagues, Friends and Followers,

The first semester of 2019 provided CER experts with a lot of media attention related to Brexit, the European elections as well as the rise of populism. CER has commissioned its first poll on how Brits think the EU sees them which found that age has increasingly become an important cleavage in the UK next to being a remainer or a leaver. Our experts have also contributed to a Sky News study on populism. A special seminar session on Article 50 and the European elections was organised, as well as a very successful session on the Right to rescue and the criminalisation of those who help migrants at sea with Dr Violeta Moreno-Lax.

A successful CER workshop took place at the University of London Institute in Paris, with the support of the School of Politics and International Relations of Queen Mary University of London and UACES in March where we had an insightful debate with academics and policy professionals from across Europe on the need to decentre EU foreign policy for the EU to remain a meaningful actor in world politics.

Spring will be marked by the European elections and decisions on the future of the EU-UK relationship. Many of us will be present at the European Union Studies Association Conference in Denver.

In the meantime, I wish you a relaxing spring break.

Dr Sarah Wolff
Director, CER

P.S.: Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be up-to-date with our work.

Past Event Highlights

Decentring Europe: Critical Approaches to European Foreign Policy
Research Seminar & Workshop

This research seminar and workshop, held on 7 March at the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP), aimed to depart from prevailing conceptualisations of European foreign policy and offer a cross-disciplinary insight as well as methodologies and ways for operationalisation for a novel, decentred analytical perspective on EU foreign policy. It engaged both young and senior scholars as well as professionals from the field of diplomacy, and was seen as the first step in a collective effort to finetune a detailed decentring approach that will benefit both the academia and policy-makers, and result in a collection of special issue articles published in an academic journal.

For more information, including the detailed programme and participants as well as a concept note, click here.

We are most grateful for the generous financial support of the School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London as well as a UACES Small Event Grant, and the support of the University of London Institute in Paris.

The Vein, The Fingerprint Machine and the Automatic Speed Detector
Performance and Discussion

Performed by Dr Catherine Charett, the event traced the technologies that shape Europe’s involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reflected on the 'global colonial structures' that maintain oppression. This project is based on the performer’s ethnographic observations of the technologies of occupation, as well as interviews with Israeli start-up firms who imagine the future through their technologies, and interviews with Palestinian police who try to manoeuvre around the limitations imposed by these technologies. The performance was followed by a discussion with Professor Engin Isin (QMUL), Dr Nasser Golzari (University of Westminster) and Dr Majisola Adebayo (QMUL). The event was chaired by Dr Sarah Wolff.

CER Debating Europe Seminar Series

Since the start of 2019, our bi-weekly Debating Europe Seminar Series hosted three events. The seminar 'Why the Centre-right Might Be Wrong: The 2019 European Elections', organised on 11 February, hosted Professor Tim Bale (CER), Charles Grant (Centre for European Reform, UK) and Dr Sofia Vasilopoulou (University of York). Our second seminar in the new year, 'The Right to Rescuce: A Human Rights Defender Framework', was held on 25 March and included speeches by Dr Violeta Moreno-Lax (CER), Pia Oberoi (UNHCR) and Jan Engel de Boer (IMO). Finally, our event on 26 March, titled 'The May 2019 European Elections: Some Insights on Article 50 and the European Parliament', featured Jamie Taylor (European Parliament) and Dr Paul Copeland (CER) as speakers. The events were chaired by Dr Sarah Wolff.

Europe Matters blog

The CER blog offers analyses of significant events and pressing developments in Europe. Our latest blog posts include:

What the EU Should Learn from the Successful Canadian Model of Privately Sponsored Refugees
Nicole Wyatt

Populism in Europe: The Italian Exception
Antonio Astolfi
CER Inaugural - Reforming the EU: Why and How the Union Needs to Hand Power to its Citizens
Antonio Astolfi

CER News

The new edited volume Brexit and Internal Security: Political and Legal Concerns on the Future UK-EU Relationship (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics) is out now including Dr Sarah Wolff ‘s contribution on migration and asylum

Grassroots – Britain’s Party Members: Who They Are, What They Think, and What They Do, a new study by Dr Monica Poletti and Professor Tim Bale is now available online

‘EU-China Legal and Judicial Cooperation’ (EUPLANT) is a new Jean Monnet Network which investigates the interactions between the Chinese and the European Union (EU) legal and judicial systems and promotes excellence in teaching and research on EU-China legal and judicial cooperation. EUPLANT initiators include CER members Dr Matthieu Burnay, Dr Sarah Wolff and Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas

You can now apply to participate in the Research Workshop ‘The EU paradigm in crisis? Ideas, leadership and the search of a new référentiel for Europe’ to be held on Monday, 20th of May 2019 at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science

Research in the Spotlight

How do Brits think the EU sees them? It depends how old they are

How British people think the EU and Europeans see them depends not just on whether they’re Leavers or Remainers, but on whether they’re young or old, find Dr Javier Sajuria, Professor Tim Bale and Dr Sarah Wolff. The findings of this study were taken up by Financial Times, The Conversation UK in a Changing EU and several more media outlets.

CER Experts in the Media

European Elections: The Threat of Populism – Sky News (Dr Sarah Wolff, Dr Stijn van Kessel and Dr Paul Copeland)
Another Big Brexit Week Begins. What’s Expected? – Al Jazeera (Dr Sarah Wolff)
Brexit may just have saved Europe – it is only a shame that Britain had to sacrifice itself to do it – Independent (Dr Sarah Wolff)
Changes to Brexit deal: what next? – BBC (Professor Tim Bale)
Brexit: this is the beginning of the end – Radio Canada (Dr Sarah Wolff)
Theresa May asks her MPs to ‘think about history’. She should do so too – Evening Standard (Professor Tim Bale)
Officials Discuss Election Plans as Brexit Deadlock Sparks Poll Talk – Financial Times (Professor Tim Bale)

CER Journal Highlights

Mediterranean Politics

East European Politics

Are you a young scholar interested in the Mediterranean region? Then you may be interested to apply for the Richard Gillespie Mediterranean Prize for the best research article published in Mediterranean Politics. For more details, click here

The Editors are delighted to announce that the 2017 East European Politics Best Article Prize has been awarded to Gerrit Krol (EUI) for his article 'Legislative performance of the Russian State Duma. The article is now available here as a free download

Get involved!

We welcome applications from graduate students and post-doctoral candidates who wish to study and research various aspects of European politics and policy (find more info in the box below).

We are also delighted to receive applications from external junior and senior scholars who wish to become visiting fellows at CER.

In addition, applications from non-academic professionals engaged in aspects of European politics and policy who wish to spend time in a scholarly environment are also warmly welcome.

For any applications or enquiry please contact our Director, Dr. Sarah Wolff (s.wolff@qmul.ac.uk)

Interested in doing a PhD or a post-doc fellowship with us?

PhD
The School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR) encourages applications for PhD projects in European Politics and Policy.
The CER, based in the School of Politics and Inernational Relations, can offer expertise and supervision to students interested in Comparative European politics, British politics, EU internal and external policies with a special focus on relations between Europe and the Mediterranean as well as the Western Balkans, EU migration policies, EU Justice and Home Affairs, EU environmental policies, EU economic and social policies, EU-Islam relations, Euroscepticism and populism.
If you are interested in doing a PhD with us, you can contact our Director, Dr Sarah Wolff (s.wolff@qmul.ac.uk) or any other relevant member of CER’s staff. Please make sure to attach your CV and a draft research proposal to your email.

For more information on the application process, click here.
If you would like to get informed about studentship (funding) options, click here.

Postdoctoral fellowships
For info on postdoctoral fellowships, please get in touch with us at politics@qmul.ac.uk.

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