Robert Schuman Initiative for European Affairs | Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence - 2024/2027 (RSI JMCE)

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Nov 2024
Duration in months:

36
Funding:

European Commission / ERASMUS+ Programme Jean Monnet Activities
Principal Investigator(s):

Aikaterini PANTAZATOU

Frédéric ALLEMAND

About

The Robert Schuman Initiative for European Affairs (RSI) – a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence functions as a source of ideas for the development of EU policies of relevance to Luxembourgish and broader European society. Over the 2024-2027 period, the RSI will focuses on the cross-cutting issue of the Union’s resilience in its legal, political, social and cultural dimensions. Through the general theme of resilience, the JCME will seek to reconsider and assess the understanding of the economic integration process, the EU’s constitutional and institutional evolution, the conceptual understanding of historical processes, the national and international dimensions of integration and the interaction of the various public and private actors involved in shaping the integration process. The Centre will contribute to our continued efforts to initiate and advance policy debates that bridge disciplinary divides with the aim of developing policy relevant ideas to shape the development of the EU. It will ensure the ongoing development of a vibrant academic community to conduct critical research and pursue scholarly debates and discussions at the highest level, with the publication of results in leading peer-reviewed publications and the maintenance of a strong on-line presence. The project intends to reinforce the position of the University of Luxembourg as an important and internationally recognised research community engaged in the ongoing exploration of the possibilities of and challenges to the future of European integration. Resilience is a multi-dimensional concept that can be analysed holistically or within different policy areas and/or institutions. The RSI, therefore, will attempt to approach the concept of resilience in both ways. In this context, the project will begin with an epistemology and methodology seminar open to all internal and external members of the RSI, as well as to doctoral students from doctoral schools in law, political science, philosophy and contemporary history. The aim will be to compare and contrast our understandings of the concept of resilience and to discuss how this concept is taken into account in our teaching and research work and activities. Open conferences, seminars and workshops will then approach resilience from a more theoretical aspect, and similarly other events will discuss resilience in a specific EU (and national) policy area. One of the activities of the Centre will also be dedicated to the Union’s external relations, foreign policy and questions that pertain to the position of the EU as a global actor across different policies. The JMCE will build upon the excellent work undertaken during our two first JMCE funded over the 2015-2018 period and again over the 2018-2021 period. These previous JMCE fundings enabled the creation of the RSI, a suigeneris interfaculty and interdisciplinary research network at the University of Luxembourg.