The EUFOG Doctoral Network holds Kick-off Meeting
This past Friday, February 14th, 2025, researchers, experts and representatives from the seven institutions of higher education leading the project and the various associated academic and non-academic partners in 8 different countries gathered in Barcelona on Friday, February 14th 2025 to launch the EU-funded MSCA-DN: Contested EU Foreign Policy in an Era of Geopolitics (EUFOG).
The meeting was held in-person and virtually with the participation of representatives of all consortium members. The meeting started with the Project Coordinator, Oriol Costa, welcoming the consortium members to IBEI and presenting the doctoral network, including its consortium members, associated partners and designated External Advisory Board.
During first morning session the consortium members discussed different organizational matters and relevant issues regarding decision-making processes and the general management of the network. The second morning session involved discussions about the recruitment process of doctoral candidates for the 18 PhD projects of the network in the framework of beneficiaries local PhD programes. The network also discussed aspects related to the data management of the 18 projects and other relevant technical matters. After this, the consortium discussed the network’s research and training plans, including the expected supervision and mentoring procedures and roles for each member.
Lastly, the EUFOG network held a roundtable of EU experts and practitioners who discussed the present and future of EU Foreign Policy in the current context of contestation.
During this meeting, network members got together to discuss EUFOG’s a series of topics, including:
The network’s organizational structure;
Aspects related to decision-making and general management;
The status of the recruitment process;
Aspects related to the data management of the network’s projects;
The initial phases of the communication and dissemination strategy;
The presentation of research and training plans;
A roundtable of EU experts and practitioners who discussed the present and future of EU Foreign Policy in the current context of contestation.
After this successful Kick-off Meeting, the EUFOG doctoral network members will meet in Bristol in November 2025 for the next network event.
