From 17 to 21 June 2024, the Schuman Centre hosted scholars from various institutions, disciplines, and career stages to collectively address and discuss timely issues. During the opening ceremony, Director Erik Jones explained how the week aimed to represent the diversity of work carried out at the Centre: "We primarily focus on problem-centred research, which is naturally interdisciplinary. We need to return to the tradition of focusing on problems rather than disciplines."
Following this, Emeritus Professor Adrienne Héritier delivered her keynote speech, 'Federalisation vs Sovereignty', emphasising the crucial role of the intermediate political sphere in shaping political decisions and influencing politics at the EU level. A recording of the full presentation is available.
Throughout the week, sessions revolved around six themes central to the Schuman Centre’s Research Agenda: gender analysis in EU political economy, EU’s Eastern enlargements, the role of carbon markets in reaching carbon neutrality, European Union’s long crisis decade, ethical dilemmas in migration and citizenship policies, and measures development of the digital transformation.
To conclude the Joint Sessions of Workshops, convenors gathered to present the main outcomes of the conferences. “Our workshop at the Joint Sessions was a great opportunity to identify and analyse key ethical dilemmas in policy-making on migration and citizenship. Our discussions benefited greatly from the multi-disciplinary and small-group setting, and it was fantastic to see such a high level of participant engagement over the three days. We are looking forward to working on the special issue we are planning as a key outcome of the workshop.”, said Martin Ruhs, Deputy Director of the Migration Policy Centre and one of the workshops convenors.
As part of the last-day programme, Professor Luiza Bialasiewicz from the University of Amsterdam delivered the final keynote speech, shedding light on understanding the spatial dimensions of Europe's crisis. Her speech is available here.
During the anniversary, academics and staff members were interviewed to share memories about their time at the Centre.
With this event, the Robert Schuman Centre concludes its anniversary celebrations, marking three decades of cutting-edge research dedicated to better understand and tackling global challenges.