Other News

Karel De Gucht has been the President of the Institute for European Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) since 2015. Mr. De Gucht was the European Commissioner for Trade during President Barroso’s second Commission, from 2010 until 2014. From 2009 until 2010 he was also European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.

Prior to this, Mr. De Gucht held numerous senior political positions in the European, Flemish, and Belgian Parliaments. Mr. De Gucht was a member of the Belgian House of Representatives from 2003 until 2009, during which time he held the portfolios of Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Affairs (2004-2009) and Minister for International Trade (2007-2009). From 2008 until 2009 he was Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium. Mr. De Gucht is also Professor of European Law at the VUB. He holds a Master’s degree in Law from the VUB.

Thursday 13 February 2020, 14:15 - 15:15, WBS London, The Shard

Register for the lecture using the form here.

Omer Manhaimer, a student in the Politics and International Studies department, has won the prestigious Forbes under 30 scholarship. Omer shares his experience of attending the Forbes Under 30 Summit in this blog post.

Keith Hyams and Morten Byskov have been awarded AHRC GCRF funding for their project ‘Inserting Ethics into Climate Adaptation and Resilience Policy’. The project will work with collaborators at the University of Cape Town and with Cape Town city’s climate adaptation department to look at how issues of ethics and justice can be incorporated into responses to climate-related risks. Cape Town has already come perilously close to a city-wide drought and regularly suffers from flooding: the project seeks to ensure that the most vulnerable communities such as informal settlements are incorporated in an ethical manner into city-level protection plans. In addition, Morten Byskov has been awarded a competitive Fellowship at Warwick’s Institute for Global Sustainable Development, which aims to bring researchers together from across Warwick to strengthen cross-departmental collaboration and research in the area of sustainability.

Andreas Murr and his team correctly predicted on the 4th of December a big majority for the Conservatives.

His approach based on "citizen forecasts" ranks 2nd for the Conservatives and 5th for Labour in terms of accuracy among 19 pre-election seat forecasts. You can read more about his forecast on the LSE British Politics and Policy blog and about the other 18 forecasts on Steve Fisher's Electionsetc blog.

IES, VeCo and the University of Warwick offer a joint training programme in Brussels - January 17-18, 2020

The Institute for European Studies (IES), Vesalius College (VeCo) in Brussels and the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) of the University of Warwick in the UK are offering a joint training programme on the Politics of International Development.

The training will be held at the West Midlands Europe Hub in Brussels on Friday evening 17th January and all day Saturday 18th January 2020.

The training, aimed at early to mid-career professionals, will provide a solid introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals in context and detailed knowledge on the framing, implementation and implications of Sustainable Development Goal 16 on peaceful, just and inclusive societies. It will take a critical approach to the dominant international development agenda. It will enable participants to situate the Sustainable Development Goals in an intellectual history of thinking on development, as well as the contemporary challenges of the pressures on multilateralism and resources and demands for evidence-based policy making.

This joint training is part of the enhanced collaboration between VUB/IES/Vesalius College and Warwick.

“The Politics of International Development” starts on Friday January 17 at 18.30
with an Expert Session, followed by a Light Reception from 20.00
Saturday Training Sessions run from 9.00 until 17.00

LOCATION: West Midlands Europe Hub Office,

Avenue d'Auderghem 22-28, 22-28 Oudergemlaan, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium

The training is open to 20 participants and is FREE OF CHARGE. Participants should have at least a bachelor’s degree and preferably a minimum of 3 years’ work experience. To apply to participate please e-mail admissions@vesalius.edu adding “The Politics of International Development” in the subject line and attaching a brief CV.

The training is free of charge for the selected participants and lunch and refreshments will be provided.

The deadline for applications is January 7th. Selected participants will be notified by January 10th.