Jean Monnet Research Network on EU-UN Relations

The EUN-NET Network brings together established academics from different disciplines (law, economics, political science and international relations) that have a proven record of research and teaching excellence in the field of EU-UN relations. The rationale of this multidisciplinary partnership is to encourage exchange of academic best-practice and creating a thematic trans-national research group.

The EUN-NET Network’s dual objective comprises the stimulation of academic interest in EU-UN interactions and the forging of a broader common public space for informed analysis and debate on current EU-UN issues. The former will be achieved by a variety of teaching methodologies and the set up of a research network that will outlive the duration of the program. The latter will entail an enhanced cooperation between academic and civil society stakeholders through several public events to disseminate knowledge and enhance the understanding of this complex relationship.

The EUN-NET Network activities will revolve around three axes:

(a) Education: the coordination of activities to promote the exchange of teaching and training best-practices. Such activities will comprise the gathering of supporting materials and articulation of a comprehensive curriculum for EU-UN studies; the editing of a state-of- the-art Handbook on EU-UN relations; the development of complementary teaching methodologies (classroom simulations); teaching exchange visits among the partners of the Network; an (open) electronic webinar on the EU-UN system for a wider audience of interested learners and stakeholders; and training sessions addressed to stakeholders and civil society.

(b) Research: the organization of an academic research workshop to share academic knowledge and cutting-edge research on the EU-UN interactions. The Network will also deliver a data set on EU activities within the UN setting compiling data on oral interventions and voting records of EU member-states in the different fora under the UN aegis. This data set together with the Handbook will be invaluable assets for researchers.

(c) Dissemination of knowledge: the organization of public events engaging national and EU policy-makers as well as civil society actors. The culmination of these activities will be a large-scale public event held in Brussels at the end of the three-year period to discuss research findings and stimulate public interest. Other dissemination activities will comprise the set-up of an EU-UN Observatory as part of the Network’s website that will function as a data repository and provide support for research and teaching on EU-UN relations.