Introduction
Professor Renaud Dehousse, President of the EUI
This is the story of a special place... Since 1976, the European University Institute (EUI) has been a distinctly international postgraduate teaching and research institute, training social scientists and policymakers with a keen eye for interactions between disciplines, societies, and national and supranational systems. The EUI is clear about its role in today’s world. In its first ever strategic plan, the Institute aims—among other priori- President of the EUI: ties—at reaffirming its position as a hub for Social Science and Professor Renaud Dehousse Humanities in Europe. This starts with attracting top scholars and early stage researchers to perform excellent research. With a total of 9 European Research Council grants under our roof, a relatively small faculty, and state of the art resources, the EUI is perfectly placed to generate new insights that help our societies move forward. A concrete and decisive step towards becoming such a hub was taken in 2019, when the EUI and seven other leading European higher education institutions in the social sciences co-founded CIVICA—The European University of Social Sciences. Together we aim to build the European campus of the future: grounded in excellent learning and teaching, offering seamless mobility, promoting an interdisciplinary approach, and bridging education and research across all regions of Europe. CIVICA was selected in 2019 by the European Commission as one of the pilot European Universities, funded under the Erasmus+ Programme. Within this project, the EUI is in charge of creating a European space for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in the social sciences and humanities. This focus rests on one of the defining features of the EUI, and the first of its three pillars of activities: the training of early stage researchers. ACTIVITY REPORT 2019
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