New visiting researcher

The IEE-ULB is delighted to welcome Tomohiro Fukuda  for a research stay at our Institute. Mr. Fukuda is a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Political Science of Waseda University, in Japan.

He obtained a Master’s Degree in Political Science at Waseda University in 2019. From 2019-2021, he was a teaching assistant on the course ‘Introduction to Political Analysis’ at the same university. Since 2021, Mr. Fukuda coordinates the JAIR Session for Graduate Students and Early Career Researchers. His PhD thesis focuses on administrative resource management in the EU (personnel, budget, legal competence, and information), with a particular focus on the functioning of the European Commission after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Mr. Fukuda will be at the IEE-ULB from February 14 until June 18, 2022, under the supervision of Prof. Ramona Coman.

His research at the IEE-ULB

The research activities of Mr. Tomohiro Fukuda at the IEE-ULB will focus on administrative resource management in the EU, which falls within the scope of the IEE-ULB research theme “Europe as a community of norms and values”. Based on document analysis and interview survey, his work at the IEE will contribute to answering two central questions: (1) Under what procedures does the European Commission procure and manage administrative resources; and (2) how did a series of reforms following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon modify the mode of administrative resource management by the Commission, and which problems remain to be addressed.

During his stay at IEE-ULB as a visiting researcher, Mr. Tomohiro Fukuda hopes to receive valuable comments and guidance from professors at ULB and beyond to strengthen the originality and significance of his doctoral research project. He also wants to use his time in Brussels to gain better access to official Commission documents to feed into his paper-based analysis. Furthermore, Mr. Fukuda hopes to complete two papers in Japanese and in English to submit to a journal and to feed into his future doctoral dissertation, He also hopes to present his research at a workshop, allowing him to engage with the ULB academic community.

How to become a visiting researcher at the IEE-ULB

Each academic year, the Institute for European Studies of the ULB hosts a select group of visiting researchers who work around our 4 research themes. During their stay, they are supervised by one – sometimes two – of the IEE-affiliated professors.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications which must contain: an up-to-date CV (max. 2 pages), a research project highlighting the link to one or several of the IEE’s four research themes (max. 2 pages), the proposed research period (max. 12 months), and the name of the IEE-affiliated professor who has agreed to act as the researcher’s supervisor.

Applications should be send to Prof. Ramona Coman, Dr. Jozefien Van Caeneghem and Ms. Michela Arcarese. 

Decisions on visiting research applications are taken by the Council of the IEE, which gathers five times per year. For the second term of the 2021-2022 academic year, the dates are:

  • 11 March 2022
  • 19 May 2022
  • 23 August 2022

For any questions about a visiting research stay at the IEE, please contact the IEE’s Research Logistic Coordinator, Dr. Jozefien Van Caeneghem.