On 26 February, Research and Innovation Services arranged for five academic staff, Louise Hardwick (French Studies), Marianne Wade (Law), Nicolas Lemay-Hebert (International Development), Jenny Phillimore (Applied Social Studies) and Benjamin White (History), to visit Brussels and meet with staff from the European Policy Centre (EPC), one of the most influential think tanks in Brussels.
The visit was very successful with areas of interest perfectly fitting with the current thinking of the EPC. Our hope is that interaction with the EPC will lead to ‘joined up working’ for both this group and subsequent groups visiting. The specific benefits will be around profile raising, not only for the institution but for individuals and will provide the opportunity to open doors to networks to deliver our activities with an enhanced credibility attached.
We will shortly become members of the EPC and continue will our interaction with them through a dedicated contact point here at Birmingham (Sally Wiley, Research and Innovation Services). Sally will interact with our community and the EPC on opportunities. In maintaining this relationship our intention is to take further parties of academics to round table discussion with the EPC. The EPC's areas of interest are ever changing especially in reacting to topical issues. If anyone would like to be included on the central database of interested academics for targeted interaction with the EPC please contact Sally Wiley, s.a.wiley@bham.ac.uk.
As part of the visit the group also had a presentation from Angela Liberatore (pictured far right), Deputy Head of Unit (Neighbourhood, Africa and the Gulf), who presented on the EC's international cooperation activities.