Un-Muting Europe

ended

The Centre of Excellence (CoE) aims to create an interdisciplinary platform to allow researchers, students, policymakers and civil society actors to better understand the EU’s added value in addressing key challenges of our times. CoE’s activities will focus on five major challenges: safeguarding the rule of law; ensuring inclusiveness; preserving climate and natural resources; fostering a digital future for Europe; and strengthening democracy. The CoE will explore how EU action enables our societies to tackle several challenges identified by the Commission as crucial for the future of Europe, making them ‘headline ambitions’ of its Work Programme. The CoE will unpack the EU’s “un-muting power” by showing how it can improve the quality of democracy by giving voice to those who are usually outpowered, outnumbered or voiceless. The project builds upon, and further develops, the European Union studies’ resources of Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles. It brings together 10 leading scholars with strong experience in teaching and researching, and coming from different disciplines: law, political science, political theory and sociology. As an interdisciplinary platform, the CoE will draw on their competence and knowledge to generate cross-cutting analyses. It will disseminate knowledge both within and outside the university, from students across five faculties to European and national policy makers and Brussels’ based representatives of civil society. The CoE will carry out three types of activities – research, teaching, and outreach. Altogether, these activities aim to nurture a debate about how EU action allows otherwise disruptive challenges to be tackled at an institutional, normative, socio-technical and environmental level. To achieve its results, the CoE will produce 15 pedagogical videos, 1 book, 1 journal special issue and scientific articles. It will also organise 18 seminars, 12 public debates, 2 workshops, and 2 cultural events.