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Project

Stakeholder involvement as legitimation strategy: an illustration of EU financial agencies.

This SEP-grant constitutes an additional year of the PhD-trajectory of Bas Redert. It is subsequent to a three year EU grant in the framework of the Innovative Training Network PLATO on the Post-crisis Legitimacy of the European Union. The grant has four significant benefits to the research already conducted by PhD-researcher Bas Redert and to future academic endeavors at the University of Antwerp. First, the prolongation of the PhD-trajectory makes it possible to analyze the topic at hand in more depth. Also, it means that previous research can be extended, and novel methodologies can be applied to the study of EU interest groups. As a result, the SEP-grant opens new (methodological) avenues for research in this specific field. Besides, the grant also serves to make the PhD-dissertation more coherent and well-rounded. Second, and related to this, the prolongation makes it possible to publish various articles in top-journals. During the three year ITN-scholarship, a single-authored article in the highly ranked Journal of Common Market Studies has been accepted for publication, and a co-authored book chapter in an edited volume (edited by Chris Lord, Dirk De Bièvre, Ramses Wessels and Peter Bursens) is awaited to be published by ECPR Press. The SEP-grant will provide time to prepare and submit other articles for publication in top journals. Third, the SEP grant makes it possible to write an FWO junior postdoctoral grant proposal. As the timeframe of a three-year PhD-trajectory is extremely tight, it would have been difficult to write an up-to-par FWO proposal. Receiving the SEP grant provides the time needed to prepare and submit an outstanding post-doc proposal for the Politics and Public Governance research group at the University of Antwerp. The proposal will be submitted for the call of December 2020 and would be awarded in June 2021. Fourth, the additional year of funding will be used to write and submit grant and research project proposals together with my current supervisors and other UAntwerp faculty. Recently, the Politics and Public Governance research group became part of one the Centres of Excellence with a focus on 'Trust and Distrust in Multi-level Governance'. GOVTRUST will perform cutting-edge and cross-disciplinary research at international frontier domains. Research expertise on stakeholder involvement in relation to EU legitimacy and legitimation strategies fits perfectly within the aims and scopes of the Centre. Hence, close cooperation with the Centre of Excellence will be highly stimulating and beneficial for both sides. More specifically, GOVTRUST will provide the context to apply for larger scale collaborative European research programs.Indeed, prolongation generates benefits for the University of Antwerp as it allows for submitting grant proposals to be executed in Antwerp. In short, the SEP grant makes it possible to stimulate ongoing research endeavors and creates lasting initiatives for new research at the university.
Date:1 May 2020 →  30 Apr 2021
Keywords:CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS, EUROPEAN UNION, INTEREST GROUPS
Disciplines:European union politics, Multilevel governance not elsewhere classified, Interest group politics