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The Centre and its Mission

Mission Statement

"Our mission is to produce high quality interdisciplinary research on major questions facing Europe internally and in the wider world, including how the shifts in global politics play out in an increasingly turbulent and multi-polar world. We provide a distinctive European arena and platform for interdisciplinary research by bringing together scholars from across Europe and the world. We offer a supportive and vibrant intellectual community to visiting fellows and early career scholars who contribute enormously to our academic community."

About the Centre

The Robert Schuman Centre - which takes its name from Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Communities - is an inter-disciplinary research centre at the heart of the European University Institute (EUI). It was established in 1992 to complement the four EUI disciplinary departments (Economics, History and Civilization, Law, Political and Social Sciences) with the mission to be involved in both basic and policy research, collaborate with other centres of excellence in Europe and globally, provide opportunities for young scholars and promoting dialogue with the world of practice.

The goal of the Centre is to maintain an environment and support structure that fosters intellectual curiosity and excellent research. The research agenda of the Centre is currently guided by three major themes:

The Centre draws its income from a variety of sources, with around two thirds from externally funded grants. The Centre competes actively for prestigious research grants such as European Research Council and Marie Curie, and co-ordinates or participates in many Horizon 2020 projects. The Robert Schuman Centre is home to several research programmes: the Global Governance Programme, the European Governance and Politics Programme, the Migration Policy Centre, the Florence School of Regulation, the Middle East Directions Programme, the Florence School of Banking and Finance and the Centre for Judicial Cooperation

Today the ‘Schuman community’ consists of Schuman Chairs, Joint Chairs, Part-time and Full-time Professors, Post-doctoral Fellows, Visiting Fellows, Research Fellows and Assistants and Administrative Staff. Its staffing level ranges from 140 to 180 depending on the needs of its programmes and projects. 

Page last updated on 09 December 2020

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