Through the projects, the EUI Widening Europe Programme aims to reinforce a Europe-wide research community in the social sciences and humanities, as well as mark a significant step forward in fostering collaboration and innovation across Europe.
The call winners, comprising scholars from targeted Widening countries together with EUI academics, are as follows:
COMPO 1.0, led by Nicolas Petit (EUI Department of Law) and Jasminka Pecotić Kaufman (EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre), explores the evolution of competition systems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries, which underwent profound changes over the past three decades as they transitioned from central planning to market economies. Despite decades of reform, weaknesses in cartel enforcement suggest that the foundational values of competition law are not yet fully embedded. The project examines how EU law has influenced this transformation and investigates the challenges faced by national competition authorities in fostering a robust competition culture.
In WE BE, lead investigators Gaby Umbach (EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre), Jaromir Harmáček (Palacky University Olomouc), and Bogna Kietlinska-Radwanska (University of Warsaw) investigate how wellbeing concepts and practices have evolved in the Visegrád countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). The project examines whether closer EU policy coordination and national traditions have fostered shared or distinct approaches to wellbeing, while addressing the risk of global wellbeing metrics erasing local specificities. By mapping transboundary commonalities and analysing case studies, WE BE aims to understand how national policies translate global wellbeing paradigms and offer insights into the territorial and subjective dimensions of wellbeing.
DISBELIEF investigates how awareness of anti-Roma discrimination can shift public attitudes and foster support for policies addressing Roma marginalisation. Focusing on Czechia and Hungary, where anti-Roma prejudice is particularly high, the project examines gaps between perceived and actual discrimination levels, explores strategies to correct misperceptions through tailored information treatments, and identifies factors influencing support for anti-discrimination policies. The lead investigators are Valentina Di Stasio (EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences), Josef Montag (Charles University), and Mariña Fernández Reino (Spanish Research Council).
BRSC evaluates the effectiveness of bank resolution frameworks in addressing systemic banking crises. Using data from 22 Financial Stability Board member countries, the team of investigators Thorsten Beck (EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre) and Deyan Radev (Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski) explores how different frameworks impact systemic risk during idiosyncratic and systemic shocks. The study is particularly relevant for Widening countries, where banking systems are often fragile, and resolution frameworks are still evolving, offering critical insights into managing banking crises and reducing economic fallout.
Giancarlo Casale (EUI Department of History) and Natalia Krolikowska-Jedlinska (University of Warsaw) will collaborate in the project DIPLOWIDE, introducing a novel framework for studying early 18th century diplomacy through ‘triangulating archives.’ This method examines diplomatic interactions as dynamic processes of movement, translation, and shared practices, rather than through isolated national or bilateral lenses. Focusing on two case studies—the 1714 Crimean Khanate mission to Poland-Saxony and the Ottoman missions to Safavid Iran and Moscow in the 1720s—the project investigates how chancelleries managed information flow, transcended bureaucratic traditions, and navigated diplomatic incommensurabilities.
G-Dem examines how external actors influence democratic decline and autocracy promotion, focusing on the Western Balkans in the context of shifting global geopolitics. The project develops an innovative framework to analyse external actors' strategies at global, regional, and local levels, including mechanisms of political, economic, and cultural influence. Using country studies and comparative analysis, the team of investigators Jelena Džankić (EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre), Klodiana Beshku (EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre), Damir Kapidžić (University of Sarajevo), and Filip Ejdus (University of Bergrade) investigate how powers like Russia leverage tools such as disinformation, patronage, and hybrid threats to destabilise democracy and reinforce autocratic agendas.
STRIDE-UKR, led by Marina Cino Pagliarello (Florence School of Transnational Governance), Mihai Ovidiu Cercel (SNSPA), and Małgorzata Molęda-Zdziech (Warsaw School of Economics), examines the impact of ‘CIVICA for Ukraine’ as a model for strengthening resilience and integration in Ukrainian higher education through informal diplomacy and academic collaboration. By connecting Ukrainian and European universities, it promotes academic mobility, cross-cultural engagement, and Ukraine’s integration into the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The project evaluates the initiative’s outcomes, including its effect on mobility opportunities, collaborative learning, and challenges like bureaucratic and infrastructural barriers, offering strategies to expand its reach and impact within the EHEA.
In INFOREPOL, lead investigators Daniele Caramani (EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre) and Katarzyna Grzybowska-Walecka (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw and Stan Foundation) address misinformation and affective polarisation in Europe, focusing on Poland’s 2025 presidential elections. By testing digital interventions to correct misperceptions about political opponents, the project aims to reduce partisan animosity, which fuels democratic backsliding and social discrimination. It extends US-based research on affective polarisation to the European context, providing voters, policymakers, and civil society with unbiased data on candidates' positions.
Silvia Suteu (EUI Department of Law) and Ivana Krstic (University of Belgrade) are leading FJP-CEE, a project exploring whether feminist judgment projects can combat gendered backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on seven civil law jurisdictions (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Serbia). By rewriting key judgments from a feminist, intersectional perspective—including considerations for Roma, LGBTQI+, and migrant rights—the project offers practical doctrinal and pedagogical tools for gender equality activism and litigation.
The DYNDISC project aims to deepen understanding of discrimination behaviour and inform equitable policy and cultural change through three interrelated studies. First, it investigates whether decision-makers' preferences ("taste") for a group influence their beliefs about that group’s traits, bridging taste-based and statistical discrimination theories. Second, it analyses the unintended effects of unidimensional hiring quotas on individuals with non-protected characteristics, using experimental simulations. Third, it explores how gender norms evolve through cultural transmission, focusing on how local populations in early 20th century Greece responded to Greek refugees from Turkey by reinforcing conservative norms to disadvantage newcomers. The lead investigators are Elias Dinas and Biljana Meiske (EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences), together with Lamprini Rori (National & Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Raisa Sherif (Max Planck Institute).
Alessandro Tarozzi (EUI Economics Department), Mikołaj Pawlak (University of Warsaw), and Urszula Markowska- Manista (University of Warsaw) will perform an evaluation of integration policies for Ukrainian refugee children in Poland, focusing on the role of cross-cultural assistants (CCAs) in supporting learning and social integration. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, over 350,000 Ukrainian school-aged children entered Polish schools, facing integration challenges due to trauma, historical tensions, and linguistic differences. CCAs, often former Ukrainian teachers, play a crucial role, but the current ratio of 140 pupils per CCA has proven insufficient. Poland’s recent decision to increase CCAs to 1 per 20 pupils by 2025 offers an opportunity to assess how this policy can enhance refugee children’s educational outcomes and broader social inclusion, providing critical insights into the role of refugee teachers in large-scale displacement contexts.
CINEM, one of the selected research projects from the 2024 call, will be prolonged in 2025. The project aims to address a scholarly gap in the constitutional review of emergency legislation. It will investigate whether and how the methods of constitutional interpretation have changed in emergency situations across Europe, exploring courts' historical deference to executive powers during times of crises. The lead investigators are Gráinne De Búrca and Zoltán Szente (EUI Department of Law), together with Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz (HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences).
The EUI Widening Europe Programme, supported by contributions from the European Union and EUI Contracting States, is designed to strengthen internationalisation, competitiveness, and quality in research in targeted Widening countries.