Posted on 22 January 2021
Erik Jones will lead the EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre starting from September 2021.
Professor Erik Jones will join the European University Institute on 1 September 2021 as the new Director of the Robert Schuman Centre, bringing a wealth of academic expertise on the EU and transatlantic relations. Erik will succeed Brigid Laffan, who will complete her mandate after eight very successful years at the helm of the Institute’s interdisciplinary research centre.
“The Robert Schuman Centre is a fundamental pillar of the activity of the EUI: a bridge between academic disciplines and between academia and the world of practice”, said EUI President Renaud Dehousse. “Erik Jones has the perfect profile to help strengthen the Centre’s position as a key actor in the public debate about the EU and its role in the world.”
Erik Jones is currently Director of European Studies, Eurasian Studies, and International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University; he has written four books and edited or co-edited more than 30 books or special issues of journals relating to European politics and economy. Professor Jones is co-editor of Government & Opposition, a contributing editor of Survival, and a frequent commentator on European political and economic events, who has written pieces in the New York Times, Financial Times and many other publications across Europe.
“The Schuman Centre has been at the heart of the conversation on Europe for so long as I can remember”, said Jones. “The first four directors played a huge role in shaping the European agenda. Nothing could be more exciting than to join this community of scholars and practitioners working across the European University Institute.”
Brigid Laffan also welcomed him: “I welcome Erik’s appointment as the fifth Director of the Schuman Centre and I wish him and the Centre every success in the years ahead”.