MCEL Projects
MCEL members carry out various activities and projects, individually or in cooperation with other members and external researchers. The activities within those projects work in synergy with MCEL activities, such as conferences, the opening event, seminars, and fora.
In line with MCEL's goals, those projects contribute to the academic debate and informing courts, policymakers, civil society and the wider public.
Ongoing projects
MILE The Jean Monnet Chair in EU Migration Law and Governance.
The Jean Monnet Chair in EU Migration Law and Governance aims to create a spirit of interdisciplinarity, critical thinking, and societal awareness in the study of migration. It encompasses teaching, research, and public activities and debates. It targets national and international students, young leaders, stakeholders, and leading scholars with the purpose of generating interdisciplinary knowledge, critical understandings, and actionable research.
Coordinated by MCEL member Lilian Tsourdi.
INEQENV When inequality meets the environment: is environmental integration transforming the distributive goals of the EU?
MCEL member Leticia Díez Sánchez has been awarded a competitive senior research fellowship from the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek for her project “When inequality meets the environment: is environmental integration transforming the distributive goals of the EU?”. The project examines how the integration of environmental objectives has reshaped the distributive aims of agriculture and cohesion legislation, and how these combined mandates are implemented at regional level. It ultimately seeks to clarify how the green transition affects social protection policies, and whether environmental and distributive goals can be pursued simultaneously.
Coordinated by MCEL member Leticia Díez Sánchez.
YRIA & TARN Young Researchers’ Interdisciplinary Hub on EU Agencies & The Academic Research Network on EU Agencies and Institutional Innovation.
Young Researchers’ Interdisciplinary Hub on EU Agencies
Driven by young researchers, YRIA is designed to move beyond traditional legal analysis, recognising that the study of EU agencies inherently intersects with diverse fields such as law, politics, economics, public administration, andAI scholarship. By integrating these varied perspectives, the Hub seeks to foster a more comprehensive understanding of the complex role EU agencies play in European governance. This Hub brings together researchers from legal, political and economic sciences and public administration. While the legal dimension plays a central role in the Hub - studying e.g. delegation of powers, accountability, independence, transparency - researchers from political sciences shed key insights on these topics; economic scholars provide valuable insights into their efficiency; public administration researchers into the interaction between EU agencies and national administrations. AI scholarship will investigate the impact of AI on EU Agencies.
YRIA is coordinated by MCEL member Sarah Tas.
The Academic Research Network on EU Agencies & Institutional Innovation
The Academic Research Network on EU Agencies & Institutional Innovation (TARN) is a research, information and agenda-setting network informing agency operation within the EU in a transnational setting. It brings together renowned and young academics and practitioners from various disciplines and policy areas and pools knowledge on research and legal provisions, policy documents and information on the practical operation of EU agencies.
TARN is coordinated by MCEL member Ellen Vos.
EmergEU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Crises and Emergencies in EU Integration
The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Crises and Emergencies in EU Integration (EmergEU) is devoted to a common interdisciplinary research agenda and embedded within the existing interdisciplinary Centre for European Research in Maastricht (CERiM). Many members of MCEL participate in this project.
Coordinated by MCEL member Andrea Ott.
Equalitylaw European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination
MCEL member Lisa Waddington was the senior expert for non-discrimination on the ground of disability in the European Network of Legal Experts in Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination (2015-2018), and continues in that role for the period 2019-2023. In that capacity, she authored or co-authored a number of thematic reports (circa 100-150 pages) published in paper format and online at Equalitylaw.eu; including: L. Waddington and A. Broderick, ‘Disability law and reasonable accommodation beyond employment’ (April 2016) and L. Waddington and A. Broderick, ‘Combatting disability discrimination and realizing equality: A comparison of the UNCRPD and EU equality and non-discrimination law’ (October 2018). Co-author Andrea Broderick is also a member of MCEL.
SoftEn Soft Enforcement of EU Migration Law
Despite the EU’s sophisticated migration regulatory framework, uneven implementation outcomes, including fundamental rights violations, remain widespread. Traditional enforcement methods, such as infringement procedures before the Court of Justice of the EU, have met their limit in enforcing EU law.
By combining rigorous socio-legal analysis with original empirical research, SoftEn opens the “black box” of enforcement in EU migration law. It sheds light on the implications of these new developments to ensure that soft enforcement strengthens compliance, enhances accountability, and safeguards fundamental rights.
Coordinated by MCEL member Lilian Tsourdi.