In January 2010, Simon graduated from his Magister studies of Political Science, Cultural Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Cologne. His final thesis for MA degree focused on institutional procedures of the EU organs and the policy formulation of the Global Climate Change Alliance initiative of the European Commission. Being interested in EU-Africa relations and culture and languages of Africa, he deepened his knowledge in these fields through a semester abroad at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and by undertaking research trips to Mali and Kenya. During his studies he did internships at Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, the humanitarian NGO Cap Anamur and the German Development Institute. Simon always enjoyed working together with researchers from diverse cultural, academic and linguistic backgrounds and he enjoys the opportunity to cooperate and share his thoughts with experts of EU politics from various areas in the EXACT framework. His main research interests include the coherence of EU external relations, institutional procedures in the EU system, development policy and EU-Africa relations.
| 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: How to promote Policy Coherence for Development? The role of formal and informal institutional tools in the formulation and implementation 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, planning, and implementation process of cross-cutting policy initiatives.
