Themed Tracks 2025

Track Convenor: Dominik Wolski 

Competition constitutes one of the key elements of the EU integration. EU law addresses competition concerns in the Treaties (e.g. Articles 101 and 102 of TFUE) and many other regulations. Competition law constitutes also part of national laws of Member States. Competition in the EU is also shaped by the EU policies, inevitably affecting national markets. Member States have their domestic policies, reflecting national interests and aiming at national economic development. Therefore, the EU and Member States competition policies have many sticking points. The EU and Member States’ competition laws seem to be consistent, but their application may lead to many divergencies. Political and economic turbulences result in many conflicting interest too. The main idea of this track is to discuss to what extent competition law and policies in the EU result in better integration and, to what extend they may result in disruptions of the above process or disintegration. 

Track Convenors: Sebastian Heidebrecht, Xuechen Chen, and Xinchuchu Gao

Digitalisation seems central to the most important discussions in an increasingly geopolitical and geoeconomic era. Issues like digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy are at the core of various debates in the EU, including artificial intelligence, content moderation, competition policy, digital finance, cybersecurity, and industrial policy. Policymakers and academic scholars alike need to investigate the currently fast-evolving topics and often need to strike a delicate balance by encouraging innovation, protecting consumers, and upholding fundamental rights. To address related questions, the EU Digital Policy track primarily aims to address, but is not limited to, the following key areas of inquiry:

1. European Democracy in the Digital Age
2. Actors and Processes of EU Digital Policy-making
3. The EU as an International Digital Actor
4. Implementation and Enforcement of Digital Policy 

Track Convenors: Susi Forderer and Aikaterini Orfanidi

This track seeks to discuss how EU law impacts socio-economic inequalities. This relationship can be analysed in two directions. On the one hand, EU law, explicitly or implicitly, aims to reduce socio-economic inequalities. Examples are the Pillar of Social Rights, which highlights equal opportunities; its Action Plan with different legislative initiatives aiming to curb inequality and the Guidance on distributional impact assessments; and the EU structural funds, including the new Social Climate Fund. On the other hand, EU law creates or exacerbates socio-economic inequalities. Facets thereof could be traced in the free movement law, and the EMU, but also in EU social and cohesion policy itself. We invite papers that address any topics unveiling how EU law affects socio-economic inequalities at different levels: between Member States, between citizens within a single Member State or between citizens transnationally, focusing on specific policies, their application on the ground or institutional questions.

Track Convenors: Laura Chappell, Jocelyn Mawdsley, Patrick Müller and Tomáš Weiss

This track would welcome papers from all disciplines looking at the security challenges facing the European continent and its institutions. With the ongoing war in Ukraine and the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, European countries are pressed to deal with long-existing capability and coordination problems in defence and broader security policy, including internal security, border security and economic security. At the same time, new leaders will have taken over key security institutions, the European Council and the EEAS as well as NATO, not to mention the White House at the time of the conference. Therefore, we would welcome contributions on defence and the consequence of the ongoing wars, the impact and behaviour of the new leadership, but also on pre-existing security challenges and policies that may have been overshadowed by the immediate crises. We would particularly welcome papers offering perspectives from voices marginalised in mainstream security studies.

Track Convenors: Maria Garcia and Elitsa Garnizova

Modern inter-state trade and investment relations, and multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral trade governance institutions and rules, have a bearing on myriad domestic and international policies: from the ability to secure critical raw materials for the technology underpinning the green and digital economies, to animal welfare standards for food production. Interactions between trade and EU environmental and climate leadership ambitions are especially note-worthy, given international controversy arising from new EU regulations (EUDR, CBAM), and EU reliance on imports realise its climate goals. This track welcomes papers and panels considering amongst others:

• International positions on, and reactions to, EU trade policies and agreements.
• Challenges for the operationalisation and implementation of the Open, Sustainable and Assertive trade policy.
• Longer-term balance of environmental and/or other social and normative concerns and geopolitical and geoeconomic interests in trade policy.
• Trade implications of the green and digital transitions.
• Trade policy contributions to the European Economic Security Strategy.

Track Convenors: Laura Gelhaus and Isabell Burmester

Food is a crucial point of contention in EU-ropean politics. In 2022, Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine has emphasised the vulnerabilities of the global food system, with significant implications for EU-rope and beyond. The Common Agricultural Policy remains highly contested, the protection of foods and drinks produced in the EU complicates trade negotiations, the EU’s food safety standards affect foreign producers, and foods are increasingly used as a tool of EU-ropean cultural diplomacy. However, the study of foods and drinks in European Studies remains fragmented. Scholars specializing in food issues are siloed within the fields of political economy, health, agriculture, EU external action, or cultural studies. Despite the extensive work in these areas, a cohesive and systematic approach to European Food Studies has yet to emerge. This themed track therefore invites a broad range of contributions on food in EU-rope and beyond as a first step in scoping this field.

Track Convenors: Koen Slootmaeckers, William Daniel, Lorenzo Santini, and Charlotte Galpin

UACES invites both panel and individual paper proposals for inclusion on to its Gender and Sexuality track. We are keen on developing a space for feminist and queer approaches to European Studies (broadly defined), and welcome multi-disciplinary scholarly approaches within European Studies, whether political, historical, legal, or sociological. Proposals may be conceptual, empirical, critical, or applied. We are interested in a broad range of substantive topics, that focus on different aspects of gender, women, sexuality, gender identity etc within Europe, or those working on feminist and/or queer approaches to European studies more broadly. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The growing importance of gender and/or sexual diversity for representation within the European institutions, policy debates and the impact of policy initiatives on the experiences of gender and sexual minorities in Europe.
• The discourse of women and LGBTQIA+ actors in European politics and civil society movements.
• The role of Europe in mitigating gender-based violence or promoting gender equality at home or abroad.
• The role of Masculinities in European politics and discourses.
• Gender/sexuality approaches to the Far Right.
• Anti-gender campaigns in Europe.
• LGBTQ politics.
• Pride Parades.
• Identity politics.
• Gendered/Queer perspectives on key topics in European and EU studies.

We especially welcome contributions from an intersectional perspective, as well as abstract form those scholars who have traditionally felt lest included in European Studies. We are committed to offering a diverse range of panels and would be especially delighted to welcome scholars from the global majority. We expect for any proposed, pre-formed panels to consider offering a diverse range of voices as part of their own selection.

Track Convenors: Mary Guy and Charlotte Godziewski

Health remains high on the EU’s political agenda as the “European Health Union”, initially conceived as a pandemic response mechanism, evolved to inform the 202 4-2029 Commission’s mandate. 2024 also saw commitment to the first dedicated Health Standing Committee in the European Parliament, and a growing number of MEPs with clinical or health policy backgrounds, suggesting scope for further refocusing of health at EU level.

‘Health and the European Union’ is a broad and topical theme concerned with the EU’s involvement in/impact on health. We encourage presentations of research on a wide variety of themes and across diverse disciplines and methodologies, including (but not limited to):

• The EU as a Global Health actor.
• Environmental health and the EU.
• Data, AI, and health in/beyond the EU.
• The health implications of EU economic and fiscal governance, trade, and/or the Single Market.
• The EU’s influence on national healthcare systems.
• EU governance after/during Covid-19.

Track Convenor: Dagmar Schiek

Far right political parties have been gaining in the EU member states and at EU levels, threatening to unravel the gains the EU aimed to make through basing its integration concept on law. We ask how the impact of EU derived rights on European societies relates to this development. Questions to be asked by this themed track are:

• Can the EU re-engage citizens by generating rights - based policies?
• Are right wing populists (successfully) using EU-derived rights for conjuring negative images?
• Which EU derived rights could contribute to integrating societies?
• Are there ways to construe rights-based policies which are more efficient than others? 

This track invites papers from all disciplines in European studies.

Track Convenors: Sebastian Steingass, Simon Lightfoot, Pascaline Winand, Niels Keijzer, and María Santillán O’Shea

The EU presents itself as a major development actor with a global scope and key proponent of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, funding cooperation programmes with countries and regions in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, Asia, and Latin America. The emergence of geopolitics as an explicit guiding logic with more interest-driven cooperation agendas, such as the Global Gateway, has called this image into question. Against this background, the track invites contributions from both EU and non-EU perspectives on, but not limited to:

1. the EU’s relations with various parts of the world and external perceptions on the EU,
2. the shifting role and understanding of development policy and its place in the EU’s external relations,
3. the future direction of policies for global development under the new Von der Leyen II Commission, and
4. the implications for the state and the future of EU development studies.

Track Convenors: Toni Haastrup and Frank Mattheis

We welcome papers and panels that explore the intersections of race, ethnicity, and colonialism in the context of European studies. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The history and impact of colonialism and decolonialisation on European societies and cultures, including legacies of imperialism across the globe
• The role of race and ethnicity in shaping European identities
• The relationship between decolonisation and European integration, and the position of Eurocentrism in research and practice
• The politics of memory and commemoration in postcolonial Europe
• The challenges of decolonising European institutions and curricula
• Applying interpretivist methodologies and critical approaches to EU policies, integration theories and external relations
• Papers and approaches that de-centre or provincialise Europe within European Studies
• Papers on the impact of EU policies on the global souths
• How the EU and EU Studies is studied/practiced/contested outside of Europe. 

We encourage theoretical and empirical submissions from scholars working in any cogent discipline, including innovative formats for sessions.

Submissions from those involved with EUROGLOT ((En)countering Europe as Global, Othered & Transperipheral Voices) are also welcome in this track. Please indicate in your submission if it is intended to be part of a EUROGLOT panel.

Track Convenors: Eli Gateva, Julia Rone and Emilija Tudjarovska

Recent shifts in global competition, closely linked to geopolitical strategies, pose significant challenges to European integration. In an increasingly Geotech world, competition over innovation, resources and influence has challenged the European Union’s international standing and economic model. However, the EU’s quest for strategic autonomy also provides opportunities for advancing European integration and has shaped the development of wide range of EU policies including enlargement, new industrial policy, and defence and security. This track seeks and ask: What has been the role of CEE in shaping policy developments and what agency do CEE countries have to influence the EU’s way forward? How have current geopolitical realignments impacted domestic politics in CEE and how do the politics of CEE states in turn shape EU policy.

We invite different contributions to unpack these challenges and discuss how to rethink Europe’s East-West Divide in the changing geopolitical context.

Track Convenors: Viviane Gravey and Patrick Bijsmans

UACES as part of its mission is committed to providing its members and conference delegates with the tools and knowledge to succeed at teaching, whilst seeking to broaden the scope and understanding of European Studies as a discipline. This track invites a variety of papers and panels that examine innovative teaching methods, consider ideas to enhance engagement, and explore new understandings of learning European Studies. Submissions may be in a variety of formats such as games, shorter workshops, traditional panels, roundtables, and teaching and learning research papers.

Topics may include:

• Innovative Pedagogies and forms of assessment in European Studies
• Gamification and serious games in European Studies
• Online and blended learning in European Studies
• Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching European Studies
• Decolonising the European Studies curriculum
• Teaching sensitive topics
• Addressing gender, sexuality, and intersectionality in European Studies
• Critical language pedagogy and intercultural competence
• The future of European Studies – navigating teaching and learning with digital and global developments
• Teaching careers 

Track Convenors: Jeffrey Rosamond and Rosa M. Fernandez Martin

The themed track considers panels and papers broadly covering aspects of EU engagement with the environment, climate change, and sustainability. The year 2024 marks the beginning of a new EU political term and the second term of environmental and climate policymaking under the umbrella of the European Green Deal. As many of the sustainability policies developed during the von der Leyen I Commission move towards implementation in the member states, the time is right to assess the progress, pitfalls, and prospects of the Green Deal.

Themes for panels and papers may include: EU institutions and sustainability policymaking; climate and environmental diplomacy; public opinion and community engagement research towards sustainability initiatives; implementation of policies in the EU member states and multi-level governance; regional, local, and non-governmental environmental actors; assessment of socio-economic consequences of climate and environmental policies; sustainability in teaching and research; democratic innovations; and external effects of the Green Deal.

Track Convenors: Raquel Cardoso and Miguel João Costa

As crime became increasingly transnational, the importance of interstate cooperation in the repression and prevention of crime became indisputable. However, recent developments are raising new challenges to international cooperation in criminal matters and to its compatibility with fundamental rights protection: the declining of the rule of law, the EU’s possible expansion further east, and the (dis)respect for fundamental rights stemming from a (politically coloured) legal analysis. The trust at the base of simplified European procedures seems, at present, fragile in its foundations. Nevertheless, the judicial approach remains anchored to a time when few exceptions were allowed to be made.

The purpose of this track is to critically analyse the multiple instruments allowing for facilitated cooperation in criminal matters, as well as the impact of recent developments upon their execution, in order to draft new paths for the future in a fast-changing Europe. This track recognises that trust is a critical concept not only in legal studies but also in political science, sociology, and other fields and hence welcomes submissions from a variety of backgrounds.

Track Convenor: Cláudia Araújo

The track seeks to attract papers addressing a critical and underexplored dimension of EU governance: the role of protest movements in shaping democratic participation. As the European Parliament (EP) plays a pivotal role in decision-making, protests which directly targeted it aiming at influencing its policies provide key insights into how citizens engage with transnational institutions. The track invites diverse perspectives on the interactions between formal and informal political participation and considers examining both progressive and illiberal movements. It seeks to explore the broader implications of these protests on European democracy. With rising democratic challenges across Europe, this theme will provide a timely discussion on how protests reflect and shape public sentiment, influence policy, and navigate the tensions between civic engagement and institutional governance in the EU context.

The Open Track welcomes proposals on all aspects of contemporary European Studies from across academic disciplines including (but not limited to) law, economics, geography, history, sociology, public policy and politics. We accept proposals from established academics, practitioners and well-prepared doctoral students. Proposals can take the form of panels, individual papers or 'non-traditional' panels which may be roundtables, workshops or other alternative formats. We will not accept all-male panels.