News from CIVICA

The new initiative gathers students from European University alliances, including CIVICA, to deliberate the complex issues impacting the EU’s future.

In the context of the Engage Track, a project by CIVICA–the European University of Social Sciences–Sciences Po’s Engage Course offers the opportunity to participate in an innovative independent project, the Showcase Assignment, that uses field experience as a pedagogical tool.

More than 130 master’s students from the alliance have benefitted from the cross-border, interdisciplinary experience.  Europe is facing challenging times - from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change to economic recovery – and students across the CIVICA alliance have just spent three months analysing the EU’s policy responses to these challenges in the first Europeanship multicampus course “The Future of Europe." 

A polyphonic conversation on some of the most pressing questions of the 21st century : “Can we achieve climate justice and equity?”, “What role can the EU play at the international level?”, “Is the EU truly including climate concerns in its foreign policy?”, “What role is there for the youth?”. These questions—which opened Sciences Po’s event “Climate Change and the EU: From Evidence to Action” in the context of the CIVICA Public Lecture Series Tours d’Europe designed to bridge academia and the wider public —figure among the most vital of our current moment, setting the stage for the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, which ran from the 31st of October to the 12th of November.

On Thursday October 28th, Sciences Po will host the event “Climate Change and the EU: From Evidence to Action” in the context of their partnership with CIVICA—the European University of Social Sciences—and the Tours d’Europe lecture cycle.

This October, CIVICA–The European University of Social Sciences–celebrates two years since the start of activities, following its selection among the pilot European Universities by the European Commission. Since then, the alliance of eight social science universities, including Sciences Po, has taken major steps towards the strategic goals of the current three-year pilot phase and beyond.

In this brand-new educational experience, master's students work across borders and universities to examine European policy challenges.

From 8 to 11 June 2021, some 40 undergraduate students from Sciences Po, Bocconi University, the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) and The London School of Economics (LSE) took part in the first edition of the CIVICA European Week. This event, a central element of the CIVICA Engage Track, aimed to foster social engagement in bachelor students from all over Europe through four days of fast-paced learning and team working with peers from varied backgrounds.

Eleven projects have been selected for funding in CIVICA’s first call for collaborative research proposals, from a total of 27 applications. Open from 1 February to 23 March 2021, the call marked the launch of CIVICA Research, the alliance’s long-term research and innovation agenda. The aim of such research calls is to foster new, innovative research and deepen cooperation between CIVICA’s eight member universities.

How have advanced capitalist economies and their welfare systems evolved since the early 1990s? To answer this question, Bruno Palier, CNRS Research Director at Sciences Po’s Centre for European Studies, and Anke Hassel, Professor of Public Policy at the Hertie School, co-wrote the book Growth and Welfare in Advanced Capitalist Economies: How Have Growth Regimes Evolved?, recently published by Oxford University Press. The volume was discussed by distinguished scholars from CIVICA universities in a webinar on 29 March 2021. We asked the authors a few questions.

Fostering international ambitions before entering higher education: on Friday 26 February, 37 French high schoolers from Sciences Po’s Premier Campus programme participated in online discussions with student and PhD representatives from CIVICA universities across Europe. 

On 15 February, Central European University (CEU) hosted the first event of the CIVICA Public Lecture Series Tours d’Europe – a new series committed to communicating social science research and knowledge from the eight partner universities into the public realm. The CIVICA Public Lecture Series convenes experts from CIVICA universities to present their research on topics currently in the news. The aim is to facilitate a direct dialogue between social science researchers and broader society and, in doing so, strengthen the public knowledge base.

How can the European Universities implement new approaches and strategies to tackle global issues shaping our future? Carsten Q. Schneider (CEU) and Guillaume Plantin (Sciences Po) mark the start of CIVICA Research activities with an introduction to the alliance’s research strategy and to its first call for research proposals. 

Aurélien Krejbich from Sciences Po is since 1 February 2020 the first Executive Director of CIVICA - The European University of Social Sciences. Krejbich has been involved in CIVICA since its early beginnings. In his previous role as Director of the Centre for Europe in Sciences Po’s International Affairs Division, he worked on consolidating bilateral ties with some of the future partners in the alliance. In this interview, he reflects on CIVICA’s journey and the next stage of growth.