IGSD News

Warwick hosted the Sustainability Network Studio on 3-5 June, an international event to facilitate the formation of interdisciplinary research collaborations in and around the area of Sustainability between researchers at three universities: Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) from Belgium; Technische Universitat Dresden (TUD) from Germany and the University of Warwick.

The event was organised as part of the EUTOPIA activities and under the aegis of the Sustainability Spotlight. It was led Prof. Elena Korosteleva in her capacity as Chair of the Sustainability Spotlight, and in partnership with the Sustainability Spotlight leadership team. The event was held over the three days, involving members of the Sustainability Spotlight networks. It was based around pitch presentations from each of the 23 researchers attending and consortium-building for European research funding. The event was facilitated by research support staff from each of the three institutions and is expected to lead to new research collaborations in and around the sustainability area in disciplines ranging from chemistry and engineering to political science, business and economics. From the Warwick team, it included Prof. Stuart Coles (WMG), Prof. Stefan Bon (Chemistry), Dr Fred Dahlmann (WBS), Dr Soroush Abolfani (Engineering), Dr Madeleine Fagan (PAIS), Dr Lory Barile (Economics), Dr Feng Mao (IGSD) and Dr Adela Glyn-Davies (Design).

Professor Korosteleva was invited to contribute a piece on resilience to the strategic volume of Key Concepts for the Future of the EU, published by the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS), 3 March 2025. The volume came together at the request of policy-makers, and covers key themes that the EU and global leadership will work with in 2025+, including geopolitics, resilience, security, democracy etc. It offers innovative and creative perspectives, to ensure that the challenges posited by complex geopolitics and the Anthropocene, are adequately considered, going forward. It is available for a free download.

Dr Aijan Sharshenova, SHAPEDEM-EULink opens in a new window Research Fellow, discussed the launch of a reportLink opens in a new window on harnessing the democratising potential of the EU foreign policy agenda with one of the report's authors Dr Nathan Vandeputte.

MORDORLink opens in a new window is an Erasmus+ project, co-funded by the European Union focusing on improving general education on authoritarianism and to prepare recommendations for EU foreign policy stakeholders regarding democracy support.

Professor Elena KorostelevaLink opens in a new window and Dr Aijan SharshenovaLink opens in a new window, SHAPEDEM-EULink opens in a new window team at the University of Warwick, participated in the 2nd Annual Progress Meeting of the SHAPEDEM-EU Consortium. Professor Korosteleva reported on the progress of the deliverables under the Working Package 2 "Democratic practices and democracy support in the Eastern Neighbourhood and discussed prospects of future collaborations with the consortium members.

SHAPEDEM-EULink opens in a new window is a consortium of 12 research, policy and civil society institutions set out to rethink, reshape, and review the EU’s democracy promotion policies, while elaborating and pilot testing a novel model of a Democracy Learning Loop. The project is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe funding framework.

Dr. Aijan Sharshenova, research fellow at the SHAPEDEM-EULink opens in a new window Horizon-funded project, participated in a closed dinner discussion of the policy briefLink opens in a new window "The EU support to democracy: Recognising the democratising potential of the EU's foreign policy agenda" published by Mapping and Organizing Research on Dictatorships EU-funded projectLink opens in a new window. The discussion was organised by the European Partnership for DemocracyLink opens in a new window and included EU officials, civil society and academia.