EUqualis - IEE Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence
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EUqualis - Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence

A project centred on (in)equality and the EU

A new, interdisciplinary project

Starting April 2022, and for three years, the Institut d’études européennes of the Université libre de Bruxelles hosts the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence EUqualis, focused on the overarching topic of (in)equality and the European Union.

Directly involving a dozen academics and researchers affiliated with the Institute, EUqualis aims to investigate how the EU deals with the problem of inequality among individuals, territories and states. Conceived using a bottom-up, interdisciplinary approach, EUqualis builds on the success of the previous IEE Centre of Excellence dedicated to ‘European Solidarity’ (2016-2019).

Teaching, research and public debate

EUqualis will gather a substantial share of the academics and researchers affiliated with IEE around a shared teaching, training, and research agenda in European integration with a focus on ‘Inequality and the EU’.

By unpacking the challenges relating to various forms of inequality in direct connection with EU actions, EUqualis will simultaneously address a set of scientific, pedagogical, and societal needs. 

Rooted in its focus on the politics, legislation, and case-law affecting equality across a range of policy areas involving the EU, EUqualis will both produce and facilitate access to innovative research in EU Studies. 

The Centre’s three-year work plan will enable the ULB Institut d’études européennes to further to stand out as one of the main competence and knowledge on the EU around the world by making a significant contribution to this crucial research agenda. 


IEE Podcast: Making sense of EU

The Institut d’études européennes is happy to announce the launch of its podcast “Making sense of EU”, a seasonal production that seeks to shed light on EU affairs through the latest scientific research by IEE academics, researchers, and project partners.

Through “Making sense of EU” the IEE-ULB hopes to contribute the EU debate by bringing nuance and a scientific perspective to “hot” issues on the EU agenda linked to our research priorities. It will address the why and how of EU issues and highlights the IEE expertise, embodied by its professors and researchers.  

The first season of “Making sense of EU” will be launched on September 29th, 2022 and will focus on the IEE’s Jean Monnet Center of Excellence EUqualis, devoted the important topic Inequality and the EU and it is cofunded by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union (101047382 —EUqualis — ERASMUS-JMO-2021-HEI-TCH-RSCH).

The podcast is available on all major streaming platforms. 

“Making sense of EU” will be produced and presented by IEE-ULB Communication director Maria Isabel Soldevila, a journalist with over 20 years of experience whose work has focused on gender, migration, human rights, and politics. 

Listen here


Highlights

«Accès inégal au marché du travail pour les groupes vulnérables»

Dans le cadre du Centre d’excellence EUqualis visant à examiner la question des inégalités au sein de l’Union européenne, l’Institute d’études européennes prévoit l’organisation des demi-journées d’échanges autour des cliniques juridiques (Equality Law Clinic, Refugee Law Clinic et EU Criminal Law Clinic). Ces dernières constituent un outil précieux pour renforcer la professionnalisation des parcours universitaires mais aussi pour contribuer à lutter contre certaines inégalités (discriminations fondées sur le genre, aide aux réfugiés et personnes en situation vulnérables ou appui à des avocats impliqués dans des affaires pénales transnationales).

Afin d’améliorer leur déroulement et permettre la création de nouvelles cliniques, une première matinée d’échanges sera organisé le mardi 25 avril à l’IEE (Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 39, 1050 Bruxelles), qui permettra d’échanger sur les cliniques et les enjeux les entourant. L’évènement va se intégrer trois table-rondes autour des atouts et défis des cliniques juridiques.

Plus d’infos

Environmental justice and public participation: law matters

In this EUqualis guest lecture, Maria Lee (Professor of law at University College London and co-director of the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment) will explore various dimensions of environmental and ecological justice, and the ways in which legally protected rights to participate in environmental decision-making support those striving for environmental justice. Maria will argue that the ways in which environmental justice draws attention to marginalised human voices helps us to think critically about both the limitations and the potential of law on public participation. Law matters, taking us beyond the goodwill of those with power.
Organized on November 25, 2022, Professor Lee’s visit is part of a series of EUqualis guest lectures hosted by the IEE. Professor Lee was a speaker in Professor Chiara Armeni’s (Centre for European Law, IEE) course on Environmental Law

Watch the lecture

Inaugural conference of the year in EU studies with Laurent Warlouzet

From a market-oriented Europe to a global Euro-power? The history of European integration from Yalta to the war in Ukraine. Initially grounded on the economic logic of market making, the EU now has to transform itself in a political and military power amidst the war in Ukraine. Drawing from his latest book “Europe contre Europe, entre liberté, solidarité et puissance” (2022), Warlouzet went through the history of European integration by stressing the role of liberal – and neoliberal – market making, and how it was tamed by a social dimension. He dwelled on the EU’s search for political and military significance. The conference was held on November 23, 2022. 

Watch the lecture

Ideas conference

Submissions for the IDEAS24 conference open in September

The next IDEAS24 conference will take place in Brussels from May 15 to 17, 2024 and will be entitled ‘Inequality and the European Union. New frontiers in European Studies’.

The biennial Interdisciplinary conference on European Advanced Studies (IDEAS) is a three-day scientific event organized by the Institut d’études européennes of the Université libre de Bruxelles (IEE-ULB) in collaboration with the Institute for European Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (IES-VUB) and the Politics and International Studies Department at the University of Warwick (PaIS-UoW).

Submissions open in September, until October 31st. 

Call for Papers


Past events & news

  • Policy panel in coordination with FEPS

    A policy panel was co-hosted with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) on the second day of the IDEAS conference. The topic of the discussion is Policy measures for a just transition: Ideas for designing a structural transformation to reduce inequalities. 

    This policy panel brought together policymakers, researchers and civil society actors to debate about inequality reducing climate policies at multiple levels of governance and integrate perspectives from policymakers, academics and civil society.

    Highlights & video

  • Keynote by Prof. Olivier de Schutter

    UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and UCLouvain Professor Olivier de Schutter inaugurated the IDEAS Conference, dedicated this 2022 to the topic of (Dis)Integration from an (in)equality perspective with the keynote speach Combating horizontal and vertical inequalities in the EU: the role of non-discrimination in a market integration perspective. The presentation assessed how the fight against discrimination relates to the establishment of an internal market, which is at the core of the European integration project. 

    Watch the keynote

  • The IDEAS-ELJ best paper award to be launched in the context of EUqualis

    The IEE will launch, for the IDEAS conference, a best paper award in collaboration with the prestigious European Law Journal. EJL stands for the advancement of research on European integration through law in its multifaceted context, be it political, economic, historical, philosophical, social or cultural. This interdisciplinary approach is in line with the Intitute’s work. For the relaunch of the IDEAS conference, in May 2022, only one participant will be awarded with a publication in ELJ and a yearly subscription to the journal. Confirmed speakers to the conference will be invited to submit their papers. 

    More about the ELJ.

    More info

  • The IEE relaunches its biennial conference under a new title

    The Institute for European Studies of the ULB relaunched its biennial conference under the new title: Interdisciplinary conference on European Advanced Studies (IDEAS). The three-day scientific event organised by the Institut d’études européennes of the Université libre de Bruxelles (IEE-ULB) in collaboration with the Institute for European Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (IES-VUB) and the Politics and International Studies Department at the University of Warwick (PaIS-UoW). It  took place in Brussels from May 11 to 13, 2022 under the theme (Dis)Integration from an (in)equality perspective.

    #IDEAS22


This webpage has been produced with the support of the EUqualis
A Jean Monnet Center of Excellence (n°10104782)
at the Institut d’études européennes – Université libre de Bruxelles


EUqualis in brief

Interdisciplinarity and outreach


Answer picto

Teaching in EU Studies

EUqualis will produce new research infused teaching materials on ‘Inequality and the EU’ in different formats.

Collective research

Euqualis will support and launch collective research activities about inequality and the EU.

Innovative communication

EUqualis will create multiplatform content and develop outreach initiatives on and offline.

EUqualis in numbers

An interdisciplinary project that reaches out beyond the academic community.


300 Thousand euros cofinanced by the EU in the context of Erasmus +
12 IEE-ULB Academics directly involved in the CEJM project
10 Topics to unpack the overarching theme inequality and the EU

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