Vanessa Boas graduated with a BA in French and Spanish from the University of Bristol in 2007. Subsequently, she completed a one-year MSc course in International Relations at the same institution, focusing on EU-Russian relations. In 2009, Vanessa began a Master in Interdisciplinary European Studies at the College of Europe and specialised in Eastern Europe and the CIS. Her professional experience has consisted of 1 year working in the field of tourism and translation in France and Spain, 6 months in Central Asia at the European Union Delegation to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and four months in Armenia interning at GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) in the field of Gender.

 

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels
November 2011 – March 2012	Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Cologne

Title of research project: The EU as a normative foreign policy actor in Central Asia

Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

Co-Supervisor: TBD

The purpose of this research project is to analyse the nature of the European Union’s foreign policy towards Central Asia and to gauge its normative impact. This endeavour strives to ascertain whether the European Union is a consistent normative actor in its relations with Central Asia and to examine its propensity to cast aside its own values in pursuit of its strategic interests. In addition, it seeks to shed light on the possibility of European normative influence in the region, taking both the authoritarianism of the incumbent governments and the presence of competing non-democratic actors (Russia and China) into account.

 

 

Andrew graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BA in History and Political Science in 2007. He worked full-time as President of Trinity College Students’ Union in 2007/08, focusing on improving student facilities and welfare. In 2007 he also organised the European Youth Parliament’s International Conference in Dublin, which brought 350 people from 30 countries together for 10 days to discuss the challenges facing Europe. In 2008 Andrew taught International History at the Irish Centre for Talented Youth in Dublin City University, worked in public affairs research and was the founder and Executive Director of Generation YES - an organisation targeting 18 – 30 year olds with a positive message about the European Union (EU). In 2009, Andrew worked as Chief Operating Officer for Ireland For Europe – the chief non-party campaign for a Yes vote in Ireland’s referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Since then, he has been studying for his MA in International Relations at the University of Chicago. In his free time Andrew enjoys running, swimming and film.

 

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels
November 2011 – March 2012	European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), Maastricht
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Edinburgh

Title of research project: An External View of External Action

Supervisor: Professor John Peterson (University of Edinburgh)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

Andrews’ dissertation project will be an analysis of how the EU’s external action is perceived by US policymakers. Engaging in a constructivist theoretical framework, the project seeks to understand variation in US elite discourse on the EU as a foreign policy actor. What causes the variation in this discourse and how does this affect conduct of US foreign policy towards the EU? He hopes that the answers to these questions will suggest practical policy proposals for the conduct of the EU’s most important relationship. As part of the EXACT Consortium he will combine work on his dissertation at the University of Cologne and the University of Edinburgh with active contributions to policy research and debate at CEPS in Brussels and EIPA in Maastricht.

 

 

By August 2010 Leonhard will have obtained his LL.M (Master of Laws) degree from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. There he completed the Legal Research Master’s programme which substantively focuses on European and international public law. Besides this master’s programme Leonhard has worked as a research assistant to professors in EU law, mostly focusing on issues of EU constitutional law. His research projects at Utrecht University have focused on EU external action in different fields: the activities of EU agency Frontex in light of international refugee and human rights law, the duty of sincere cooperation within CFSP and EU’s representation in global financial governance. Furthermore he has taken great interest in the EU’s development cooperation. This intensified due to an internship at the European Commission Civil Society Fund in Ethiopia. Leonhard prefers to analyse matters multidisciplinary; mostly by incorporating political science or philosophy into the primarily legal research framework.

 

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels
November 2011 – March 2012	Institute for World Economics (IWE), Budapest
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Cologne

Title of research project: The interplay between EU development cooperation and its immigration measures: towards coherence or divergence?

Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

Co-Supervisor: TBD

Developing states are faced with an EU that pursues both immigration and development cooperation policies which need their cooperation for successful policy making and implementation. In his envisaged Ph.D. thesis Leonhard enquires into the interplay between these EU policy fields and into the extent to which this interplay threatens coherence in EU external action. As the benchmark for coherence he employs the fundamental principles which underlie EU external action generally and its development cooperation specifically. Most of these principles contain legal substance and thus require a primarily legal analysis. To underpin his hypotheses concerning the degree of coherence he uses three policy frames describing Europe’s response to immigration and the link with its development cooperation: the ‘securitisation’, ‘preventive’ and ‘migration-development nexus’ policy frames. To compare policy fields, Leonhard also hopes to participate in EXACT research activities on EU external action surpassing the substantive fields of his Ph.D. thesis.

 

 

Dana Depo is a young scholar with rich experience of engagement with the civil society in Ukraine and the region to the East of the European Union. She has worked for one of the leading think tanks in Ukraine as an expert on EU-Ukraine relations and institutional reform in CEE countries. She was also engaged with the Kyiv office of the European Association of Ukrainians. Dana has served for three years as Secretary International of youth all-Ukrainian NGOs “Foundation of Regional Initiatives” in Ukraine, which was re-elected voluntary position. As to the academic background, Dana has studied for almost six years international public law at the Kyiv National University Institute of International Relations and one year in College of Europe. She is also a finalist of the US Department of State Educational Programme which granted her with a possibility to study one high school year in the USA.

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), Maastricht
November 2011 – March 2012	The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Cologne

Title of research project: The Eastern Dimension of the European Union and the Potential Impact of the Lisbon Treaty

Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

Co-Supervisor: TBD

In the PhD research the author focuses on the EU foreign policy towards its neighbourhood to the East and the potential implication of the institutional changes brought by the Lisbon Treaty. The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a tool of the EU foreign policy aiming at establishing security, stability and consecutive integration of the Eastern European and Southern Caucasus countries. Hence, the author attributes attention to the Eastern Partnership, as this new proposal upgrades the level of bilateral relations of the EU with the relevant countries and at the same time brings new multilateral level of cooperation to the region. The aim of the research is to analyse whether the European Union with its reformed architectural framework responses to up-coming challenges as well as if it responses to the needs of its East European neighbours in frames of the Eastern Partnership.

 

 

As a student of Latin American Studies at the University of Cologne from October 2004 to September 2010, Marlene’s’ main fields of studies ranged from Political Science over International Law to Latin American History and Portuguese Language. Tracking both of her main fields of interest – the EU and Latin America - she has been working as a student assistant at the Jean Monnet Chair of Prof. Wessels at the University of Cologne from May 2007 to May 2010 and as an intern at the German Embassy in Brasília, Brazil in the period from October 2008 to January 2009. In her final thesis she focuses on the strategic partnership between the European Union and Brazil in the light of the concept of interregionalism.

 

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), Helsinki
November 2011 – March 2012	Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), Brussels
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Edinburgh

Title of research project: Human security on the EU foreign policy agenda, Strategic concepts of EU conflict prevention and crisis management

Supervisor: Professor John Peterson (University of Edinburgh)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

Aspects of human security (HS) are increasingly changing foreign policy agendas. What is new and challenging in this context is the changing/deepening perspective: the individual is taken into account as an object of reference in addition to the state while states bear a responsibility to protect the security of their citizens. On the other hand, this implies that states and international integration communities have to widen the scope of their current political approaches to security from traditional foreign, security and defence policy aspects to new fields of security such as trade, development, environment and human rights. In this light, the aim of the work is to identify strategic concepts towards HS within EU conflict prevention and crisis management and their characteristics in traditional and new fields of security policy. In doing so, the following questions guide the research project: Does the EU incorporate the human security concept in the relevant fields of security policy? How are these fields interconnected? What are the main instruments and who are the main actors?

 

 

Born in 1984 as a child of a German father and a Spanish mother, Miguel grew up in Madrid where he attended the German School. After graduating, he moved to Freiburg (Germany) where he studied Political Science, Economic Policy and Current and Modern History. Motivated among other reasons by his bi-national background he focused on International Relations and EU Studies. Miguel has worked as research assistant at Freiburg University’s Department of Political Science where he was in charge of the university’s delegation to the largest UN simulation. As intern at a German research institute focusing on research into developing countries, he contributed to research projects dealing with Latin America. Both previously and subsequently, Miguel worked at the European Parliament, first as a trainee dealing with the Committee on Legal Affairs, and subsequently after graduation, he worked for Elmar Brok, MEP, rapporteur on the establishment of the European External Action Service.

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome
November 2011 – March 2012	The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels
April 2012 – September 2013	Charles University Prague

Title of research project: Exporting Patterns of Governance and Regional Integration? Assessing the effectivity of EU interregional policy.

Supervisor: Professor Lenka Rovná (Charles University Prague)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

This PhD project focuses on the internal impact that the EU’s relations towards other regions (often termed as interregionalism) exert on the regional organisations involved and on their member states. It concentrates on the diffusion of patterns of governance and regional integration, which are understood as ideas and concepts that can be transmitted from one actor to another by different means. This approach also allows assessing the impact and effectivity of interregional relations as a tool of foreign policy. By concentrating on the internal implications of interregionalism, the envisaged project also seeks to address the empirical gap that characterises many studies on interregionalism. In order to achieve this, interviews will used to test the hypotheses of the project. Taking as case study the EU’s policy towards Latin American regional organisations, the project follows three main goals:

(I) To assess the internal impact of interregionalism,

(II) to assess the effectivity of interregional relations as a tool of EU foreign policy and

(III) to empirically test theories of interregionalism.

 

 

 

Niklas Helwig is going to finish his studies of economics with special reference to social sciences at the University of Cologne and the Victoria University in Melbourne in summer 2010. In his final thesis he is analysing the actor capacity of the newly created High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. In his PhD thesis, he will further examine the functioning and perception of this post. Alongside his studies, he is working as a student research assistant at the Jean Monnet Chair of Prof. Wessels at the University of Cologne since 2007, where he was also teaching several introductory tutorials on the political system of the EU. In Summer 2009, he completed an internship at the broadcasting studio of the Second German Public Television (ZDF) in Brussels.

 

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels
November 2011 – March 2012	The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), Helsinki
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Edinburgh

Title of research project: The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – From ‘double hat’ to ‘double weight’?

Supervisor: Professor John Peterson (University of Edinburgh)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

With the Treaty of Lisbon entering into force in December 2009, a new face for the foreign policy of the European Union was created: the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. One of the main features of this new post is its ‘double hat’, chairing the Council of Foreign Affairs, as well as being the Commissioner for External Relations and Vice-President of the Commission. While it can be argued that the broadened institutional competences of this post might enhance the effectiveness and visibility of the European Union, its real world functioning has still to be observed. One crucial question is, how this new actor in European foreign policy will be perceived by other actors in the international system and by the media. The aim of this research project is to answer this question with the help of qualitative interviews and media analyses.

 

 

Nicole received a Master's degree in Politics and Management from the University of Constance. She absolved her second Master's degree in EU International Relations and Diplomacy at the College of Europe (Bruges). She gained work experience at the German Mission to the United Nations in New York, the German-Dutch Chamber of Commerce, and the German-Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce. Furthermore, she worked as a research assistant at the Faculty of Politics and Management, University of Constance, and at the Department of War Studies, King's College, London. Her main research interests are security policy, conflict prevention and development policy. Apart from her native language (German), she speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.

 

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome
November 2011 – March 2012	Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), Brussels
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Edinburgh

Title of research project: TBD

Supervisor: Professor John Peterson (University of Edinburgh)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

The main question the Ph.D. thesis aims to answer is: To what extent is the EU's humanitarian aid policy coherent with its development and crisis management policies when it comes to complex emergencies? The theoretical starting points are the rational choice theory and the socialisation approach. The research design is case-study-based and will focus on the EU's response to the complex emergency in Chad (2003-2009). The analysis will rely on secondary sources, interviews with practitioners, and possibly a survey. The aim of the dissertation is to develop an original analytical framework for the study of EU policy coherence in response to complex emergencies, to identify shortcomings and lessons learnt, and to make future-oriented policy recommendations in the light of the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. Furthermore, the analysis will provide a new testing ground for the relative explanatory power and limitations of two prominent social science approaches.

 

 

An enthusiastic, proactive, adaptable and conscientious Policy Analyst with international exposure in Africa and Europe. Effective team player, a good communicator and possess strong leadership skills. James hails from Abease, a small village in the Pru District of Ghana-West Africa. Having successfully completed his Bachelor of Arts study with first class (Honours) from the University of Ghana in 2005, he was appointed a Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Political Science, in the University in 2006. In 2007, James was awarded Erasmus Mundus scholarship by the European Commission to pursue Master’s degree in Public Policy (MUNDUS MAPP) – which he successfully completed in 2009 obtaining double Master‘s degree from University of York (United Kingdom) and Central European University (Hungary). Professionally, he is developing specialisation in analysing European Union‘s trade and development aid policies with the African, Caribbean and the Pacific countries and looking forward to enriching his expertise on the EU trade and development policies globally. James has been very active in student organisations and unions since his undergraduate studies - serving in different capacities. He served on Erasmus Mundus MAPP Board as Student Representative for two years until 2009 and currently serves on the Board of Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Associaition-African Chapter. He is a fun of music, photography and cooking.

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), Maastricht
November 2011 – March 2012	Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), Brussels
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Cologne

Title of research project: A Study of the Policy Making Processes Underpinning the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) Between the EU and the ACP Countries: A Comparative Analysis of EU’s ECOWAS and CARIFORUM Negotiations

Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

Co-Supervisor: TBD

With the competence of negotiating trade policies for Member States, the European Commission has been engaging members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states in the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) since 2002/2003. The outcome has been mixed with some relatively successful agreement with the Caribbean economic bloc (CARIFORUM) as planned while difficulties abound with other negotiations such as with the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS). What explains the differences in the negotiation outcomes? This research will dilate on the outcomes of the EPAs negotiations so far reflecting on EU institutional and policy formulation dynamics. It seeks to investigate the procedures and processes underpinning the EPAs negotiations as well as the actors involved and the kind of influence they exert on the result of the negotiations and how they could be improved from a comparative perspective. The study will use the case of ECOWAS and CARIFORUM EPAs negotiations with the framework of Principal-Agent Theory.

 

Ivica graduated in May 2009 from the School of International Service, American University in Washington, DC with an MA in International Development and Human Rights. Her Master’s thesis assessed the impact of national agricultural policies on the food security of developing countries. Her other research interests include the effectiveness of development assistance and the politics of development cooperation. She has explored these topics theoretically in research papers and empirically in internships and research trips in Southeast Asia and Central America. After graduating, Ivica gained first-hand knowledge of EU development policy while interning at the ACP Unit of DG AGRI, European Commission and practical experience in development work through her employment as a development consultant at Evanjelicka Diakonia in Bratislava, Slovakia. She is eager to continue her research of European development cooperation and expand her knowledge of other areas of EU’s external policy during her time as an EXACT fellow.

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), Brussels
November 2011 – March 2012	Institute for World Economics (IWE), Budapest
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Edinburgh

Title of research project: “Too Many Cooks Spoiling the Broth?” Analysis of the Coordination of Aid Provision between the Commission and the Member States and Its Impact on Aid Effectiveness

Supervisor: Professor John Peterson (University of Edinburgh)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

In the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the development policies of the Commission and Members States are requested to “complement and reinforce each other.” However, in practice this often does not seem to be the case. As the Commission last year recommended to decrease aid to Eritrea since the distributed finances had been too often captured by government officials, two EU Member States re-started their aid programs in the country. Commission’s working paper on the Execution of the Code of Conduct on Complementarity and the Division of Labor in Development Policy (2009) suggests that the Eritrean case is not unique but exemplary of a relatively widespread phenomenon. Nevertheless, no rigorous study estimating the impact of the dis-coordination on the overall effectiveness of European development assistance has been conducted thus far.

The recently approved Lisbon Treaty does not confer upon the Commission any new rights in the field of development policy. If it became clear, however, that the effectiveness of the EU’s development policy suffers due to the co-responsibility requirement, in the next few years -while the rules established by the Treaty remain relatively fluid- the Commission could acquire a larger role in ensuring its coordination. Hence, the purpose of Ivica’s proposed dissertation is to fill the existing gap in research and compare the aid disbursed by the Commission to the aid disbursed by EU Member States in terms of aid conditionality, good practice, and targeting.

If the existing EU aid architecture indeed proves to be internally incoherent and mutually contradictory, the European Commission could achieve a greater role in guiding the Members States’ development agencies. Such a move would translate into an empowered Commission on the one hand and a greater benefit for the EU’s development partners on the other. Furthermore, a more effective and coherent EU development policy would undoubtedly bolster relations between developing countries and the EU as a whole, thus granting the Union a greater leverage in the ever-more politically important parts of the world.

 

 

 

Tatjana Petrović Rava started her education in the discipline of management and administration and combined it with practical engagement in international cooperation and on EU-funded projects, which helped her develop negotiation, networking, partnership building, and strategic communications skills. She moved into the area of international affairs, security and comparative foreign policies and received BA in International Relations at the American University of Rome and MSc in European Politics at the University of Glasgow. Tatjana also participated at the Jean Monett Seminar on EU foreign policy, the US and the World; worked as research assistant on EU-Russia relations; published a paper on conflicts in the shared EU-Russia-Nato neighbourhood; and gained experience of living in several European countries. Amongst other, she researched European Security Strategy, Trans-Atlantic relations, politics in the Balkans, political communication, and the interdependence between foreign policy and identity politics.

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), Brussels
November 2011 – March 2012	Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome
April 2012 – September 2013	University of Cologne

Title of research project: Effective multilateralism and strategic partnerships: The EU , the US and Russia

Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

Co-Supervisor: Professor John Peterson (University of Edinburgh)

The PhD research of Tatjana Petrović Rava addresses the interaction between multilateralism and strategic partnership of the EU, with particular emphasis on the EU-US and EU-Russia relations. The thesis relates to challenges that EU member-states’ bilateral, strategic partnerships yield upon coherent application of EU’s orientation towards effective multilateralism. It focuses on the relationship between pragmatic foreign policies of selected EU member-states (the UK, France and Germany) and the EU’s promotion of values and principles of multilateralism in the global context of clashing unilateralism. Moreover, the analysis will help facilitate further elaboration of the theory of effective multilateralism and to incorporate post-positivist approach to EU foreign and security policy. The research outcomes are expected to contribute to ongoing theoretical debates regarding the EU foreign and security policy, and the future of Trans-Atlantic and EU-Russia relations, as well as to inform upcoming EU foreign policy and security initiatives.

 

 

In January 2010, Simon graduated from his Magister studies of Political Science, Cultural Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Cologne. Simon’s final thesis for MA degree focussed on institutional processes of the EU organs and the policy formulation of the Global Climate Change Alliance initiative of the European Commission. Being mostly interested in European integration, development cooperation and politics, culture and languages of African countries he deepened his knowledge in these fields through a semester abroad at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania as well as during research trips to other African countries and internships in organisations of development cooperation and humanitarian aid. During those activities Simon always enjoyed working together with researchers from diverse cultural, academic and linguistic backgrounds and he is looking forward getting the opportunity to cooperate and share his thoughts with experts of EU politics from various areas in the EXACT framework.

October 2010 – February 2011	University of Cologne
March 2011 – October 2011	Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), Brussels
November 2011 – March 2012	European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), Maastricht
April 2012 – September 2013	Charles University Prague

Title of research project: Policy Coherence for Development? A New Institutionalist Perspective on the Coherence and Coordination of Policy Formulation Processes in the Field of EU External Action

Supervisor: Professor Lenka Rovná (Charles University Prague)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)

The distribution of competences between the EU and its member states is scattered while various distinct actors and decision-making procedures in the EU institutions are observable. This interweaving of responsibilities, structures and procedures causes severe coordination and coherence shortcomings. Development cooperation touches upon a wide range of policy domains and in the past efforts in this sphere were often thwarted by a lack of coherence with other external policies of the EU. Being aware of these incoherencies, the EU institutions created various institutional procedures and mechanisms to ensure a consistent policy planning process By analysing several policy fields of EU external action (i.e. development, trade, fisheries and climate change policy) which are characterized by different institutional set-ups, and following new institutionalist reasoning, this research project will analyse if and how these institutional procedures do influence the coherence and coordination of the initiation, plannin, and implementation process of cross-cutting policy initiatives.