Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Focusing on Refugees and Inclusion in European News Diversity Studies (FRIENDS)" "Leen d'Haenens" "Multimodality, Interaction and Discourse, Brussels Campus, Institute for Media Studies" "This project aims to investigate the dynamic interplay between media representations of current non-EU immigration of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees and governmental (i.e. State and EU) and societal (re)actions. This project combines four complementary multi-stakeholder group perspectives in a unique way: 1) analysis of news media content; 2) analysis of journalism cultures and practices across the countries under study; 3) study of societal reactions of the general public with a focus on youth as decision makers of the future, and impact measurement of news content on attitude and opinion formation; and 4) comparative policy analysis into States’ governmental (re)actions. Our focus will be on Belgium and its neighbours, each in election mode and grappling with the issue of non-EU immigration differently (France and the Netherlands)." "Everyday Europeanization in EUrope's peripheries. Towards a Performative Turn in EU Studies" "Vjosa Musliu" "Political Science" "So far, research in EU studies has prioritised structures, institutions, actors; and has relied primarily on positivist methods, ignoring everyday routines and performance habits that are integral to making the EU what it is. To remedy this gap, this project proposes a performative turn to understand how Europeanization functions as an everyday project. It takes the notion of performativity and argues that it is in the way everyday practices are performed that can get us to the bottom of how EUrope is performed, how is Europeanness, as opposed to non-Europeanness normalised and justified in different peripheries. In other words, how EUrope features in mundane and banal practices like street performance, music festivals, school curricula, fashion and the like. To do this, the project takes the existing research on the case of Kosovo (Western Balkans) as a starting point to map out and problematize EUrope and Europeanization as performative exercises in different peripheries, namely Ukraine (Eastern European Partnership) and Peru (Latin America). The project has three primary objectives: one, identify the formation of EUropean subjectivities in each case; two, explore how these subjectivities explain, shape and create EUrope in its peripheries; and three, identify the policy implications of these subjectivities for the EU and its external relations with these cases." "Housing Financialization in European Cities: Case Studies of Brussels and Warsaw" "Manuel Aalbers" "Geography and Tourism, Uniwersytet Warszawski" "The project aims to analyze the growing role of financial markets and practices in shaping the local housing environment. This process, called financialization, has been a subject of academic research after the 2008 global housing crisis, which affected many European households. Despite the regulatory measures taken to mitigate it, financialization continues to expand to new regions and new types of tenure.Global financial actors influence the prices of housing units, which rise faster than incomes and make households increasingly dependent on mortgage loans. But recently they also entered the rental market as landlords, acquiring hundreds of units in large cities, and often benefiting from tax exemptions and a friendly legal environment. The negative effects of financialization and its role in reducing housing affordability have been pointed out by both the academic community and the reports of the European Commission and the United Nations.In the project, we will analyze the ongoing financialization in two capital cities: Brussels and Warsaw. Our first goal is to identify the scope and effects of housing financialization in the cities, and the main actors involved in this process. In addition, we will analyze the policy and civil society responses, including local regulatory measures taken to increase housing affordability, and existing and proposed alternatives to financialized housing models. To reach these objectives, we will use the methods of statistical and spatial analysis, review national and local regulation, and conduct interviews with the representatives of business, local government and civil society.The project will provide an insight into the financialization process in two European cities and identify both common patterns and local diversity. It is designed to serve as a pilot study for a larger international project, either within the Transformations or Democracy themes of the EU’s Horizon program or within MSCA Doctoral Networks." "ULB-VUB Joint Research Group: Brussels Institute for European Studies" "Florian Trauner" "Université libre de Bruxelles, Political Science" "1 ° Research Topics • The European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice • Europe as an Area of Economie and Social Regulation • Europe as a Community of Norms and Va lues • Europe in the World • Europe, Environment and Sustainable Development • Migration, diversity and justice in Europe • Europe and international security • Europe and international economie governance" "Innovating Teaching and Learning of European Studies" "Alexandra Mihai, Anthony Antoine" "Cahul State University, Free International University of Moldova, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, University of Surrey, Institute for European Studies" "The Innovating Teaching and Learning of European Studies (INOTLES) project (01/01/2014-30/11/2016) contributes to curricular reform and modernisation of higher education in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, by implementing innovative pedagogies in European Studies courses at MA level. Building on a systematic review of pedagogies in European Studies, INOTLES will bring together Eastern partners with EU university centres of excellence in assorted approaches (including e-learning, problem-based learning and simulations) to create flexible resources for use in the full range of European Studies provision. These will be implemented in 6 partner institutions in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and in collaborative teaching, in the form of 6 individual courses within local MA programmes – as well as one collaboratively taught course across all partners - acting as demonstrator platforms and as sites for evaluation. Moreover, the modules will form the basis for an online interactive website and wiki, open to all, where the work of a new community of experts created by INOTLES can share expertise with peers elsewhere." "Instituting Excellence: Blended Learning and Seminal Debates at the Institute for European Studies (IES)." "Sebastian Oberthur, Anthony Antoine" "Institute for European Studies" "The IES has since 2004 operated as a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence that focuses on the role of the European Union in international affairs. In terms of contributing to research, the Institute advances academic education, cutting-edge, policy-driven research drawn from a variety of po-litical, economic, legal, social, and cultural dimensions." "The relationship between retail design and heritage property: a theoretical approach form a selection of case studies in historical European cities." "Koenraad VAN CLEEMPOEL" "Niet onderzoeksgroep gebonden projecten" "In different historic cities in Europe, various historic buildings are being unoccupied because they have lost their initial function. To avoid a degradation of the building itself and the citiescape it belongs to, a new use of the building is desirablein order to supply finances for its maintenance ans restoration. From the viewpoint of the retail sector, there exists a strong demand for available buildings which cover a large area at A-locations in the city. The commercial centre of the city in many cases is the historic city centre, so the available buildings often are monuments such as public, religious or industrial buildings. Commercial re-use of those buildings seems to be a beneficial solution for both parties. For instance, it is easier to find investors for retail projects than it is for social or cultural projects. Moreover, the building will have a public function, allowing it to become part of contemporary urban life." "Individual food consumption data and four exposure assessment studies for children in Europe: food colours, selenium, chromium and lead" "Stefaan De Henauw" "Department of Public health" "The overall objective of this project described in this proposal is to create a relational network of different individual food consumption databases in children, representative for diverse regions/countries within Europe, covering different geographical areas and to use those data for specific exposure assessment case studies in children (food colours, selenium, chromium and lead)." "Hypergenes. European network for genetic-epidemiological studies: building a method to dissect complex genetic traits, using essential hypertension as a disease model." "Jan A Staessen" "Department of Cardiovascular Sciences" "Hypergenes is a large European research network focusing on essential hypertension as a disease model. This project includes research activities in the areas of population genetics, molecular epidemiology, clinical sciences, bioinformatics and health information technology, with predicted outcomes in the fields of prevention, early clinical diagnosis and treatment, in addition to increasing the knowledge about the aetiology of essential of hypertension and associated target organ damage. The activities will be integrated horizontally across 20 participating centers and vertically across disciplines to achieve multidirectional and pan-European interactions between clinicians, basic scientists and epidemiologists, since complex traits cannot be easily partitioned in modules and one needs a highly integrated approach to understand them. HYPERGENESs scientific and technological objectives and expected outcomes can be summarised as follows: · Find genes responsible for essential hypertension and associated target organ damage, using a whole genome association/entropy-based approach. · Develop an integrated disease model, taking the environment into account, using advanced bioinformatics. · Test the value of the predictive model." "The relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature of the European Union in the context of fundamental rights review of EU legislative acts De relatie tussen de rechterlijke macht en de wetgevende macht van de Europese Unie met betrekking tot de r" "Edouard Dubout, Elise Muir" "Institute for European Law" "This thesis examines the evolution in the legal reasoning of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) when it reviews the validity of Union legislative acts with regard to fundamental rights. The relevance of this research lies in the potential creation of confusion in the case-law of the European Union with regard to standard of review as well as the empowerment and the gain of political influence of the ECJ on the decision-making of the legislator. The purpose of this research is thus to question the legitimacy of the Court's judicial reasoning in constitutional review and to envisage possible justifications for such a judicial intervention in the democratic process of the Union.To that end, the Part I will examine the legal framework within which this control takes place. From a theoretical point of view, it will be necessary to distinguish the nature of the European Union from that of all other forms of power organization existing, especially the State, in order to understand the specificities of validity control. This step will therefore allow to adapt the theoretical reflections concerning the legitimacy of judicial review, division of powers – in particular between the legislature and the judiciary – and the role and special meaning of fundamental rights in the context of the constitutional reality of the EU. From a practical point of view, it will be necessary to understand the judicial developments in fundamental rights review in the light of the redefinition of the legal categorisation between legislative acts and non-legislative acts by the Treaty of Lisbon (Article 289(3) TFEU) and the changes brought by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This part will therefore aim at inscribing the fundamental rights review within the case-law of the ECJ. This part could raise a certain awareness on the need to limit the over-constitutionalization of Union law, rendering legal developments on integration too rigid or almost impossible, thus stalling the development of new objectives in the Union.In Part II, we will elaborate on the execution of this review which must be approached in the light of the conclusions set out in Part I. We will insist here on the evolution of the Court’s reasoning, in particular the intensification of its review in situations where an infringement to fundamental rights is too serious. To that end, it will be necessary to visualize the developments of the case-law in this field from the creation of general principles of Union law to the coming into force of the CFR. An attempt will be made to rationalize the constituent elements of judicial review of fundamental rights in order to highlight and overcome the lack of clarity in the case-law. Comparative analysis will also be undertaken at various levels: 1) between the control exercised over legislative acts and the control exercised over other Union acts and national legislation in relation to fundamental rights; 2) between the control exercised on the basis of the Charter and that exercised on the basis of the general principles of European Union law. These comparisons will provide an essential normative basis for a critical analysis of the legal reasoning of the Court. It is the implementation of the principle of proportionality which will form the central research object of this part, since it is, by its malleability, revealing trends in jurisprudence. The doctrine of margin of appreciation will also be central insofar as it affects the intensity of judicial review and illustrates in legal terms the establishment of power relations between the Union institutions.In Part III, I would like to consider the consequences of these evolutions of the case-law on the process of defining fundamental rights at the legislative level. Attention will therefore be given to the impact of the case-law of the Court on the balance of powers between the ECJ and the legislator of the Union. To that purpose, a quantitative study can be envisaged to analyse, on the one hand, the extent to which the jurisprudence affecting legislative interpretation or even annulling an entire legislative act is taken into consideration by the Union legislature and, on the other hand, to what extent this power may exceed the jurisprudence of the Court. The concluding critics of this thesis would be that the vertical vision of fundamental rights, viewed as immutable norms limiting the powers of institutions, could and should evolve towards a more horizontal (or rather transversal) view of these rights in which limitations, redefinition and realization of fundamental rights should be the result of a deliberative democratic process within the Union. This view would be based on the need to politicise the Union decision-making process and on the idea that a certain evolution of rights is necessary in order to respond effectively to contemporary issues. Monitoring the validity of Union legislative acts with regard to fundamental rights would therefore be seen as a vehicle for politicizing fundamental rights in the Union."