European Institute Highlights: Term 2

As we begin Term 3, the European Institute looks back at a busy and productive second term, from the transfer of our European Literary Map of London exhibition to various European cities to a wide range of speaker events including a Q&A with HE Pedro Serrano and a panel discussion on European Security in the aftermath of the US election. 

Institutional Leadership on Europe  

We have continued our role supporting and enhancing UCL’s visibility as a leading university for the study of Europe. In January, we co-convened a thought-provoking discussion on the future of European security in the wake of the recent US presidential election in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute London and UCL Political Science's Policy and Practice seminar series. Panellists David Lidington, Mykola Bielieskov, and Lindsay Newman, chaired by Emma-Graham Harrison, explored Donald Trump’s second term and the possible implications for transatlantic relations, NATO, and Europe's defence strategy.

In February, we were delighted to host His Excellency Pedro Serrano, EU Ambassador to the UK and member of the European Institute's Advisory Board, who shared his views on the EU’s position on security, democracy, and relations with the UK. Important topics, including the EU-UK reset, the "Youth Experience Scheme", Ukraine and EU enlargement and questions surrounding Donald Trump's relation with the EU and UK were addressed.

We also celebrated the launch of The Ukraine Shelf, a new podcast hosted by Dr Olesya Khromeychuk and Dr Uilleam Blacker, and co-sponsored by the UCL European Institute, the Ukrainian Institute London, and the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, with the support of the British Academy. The Ukraine Shelf talks to leading authors, intellectuals, scholars and journalists about what we should be reading to understand Ukraine and its place in the world. 

Innovative Practice-led Education 

In February, Dr Claudia Sternberg and Lucy Shackleton accompanied 34 undergraduate students from their European Politics and Policy in Practice Module on a study trip to Brussels, designed to provide exposure to the realities of policymaking, by enabling exchange between students and policy professionals from the UK Mission to the EU, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European External Action Service and the European Council. Students also had the opportunity to take part in a workshop led by UCL alumnus and Associate Editor at Euractiv Owen Morgan, on communicating Europe.

Our [Black Europe] Speaker Series continued to challenge the presumption of whiteness as the norm in the study of Europe. Professor Keon West gave a lecture on his book, The Science of Racism: Everything You Need to Know but Probably Don't—Yet, published by Macmillan imprint Picador. In a lively and engaging talk, Professor Keon West used data gathered during many years of quantitative scientific research to illustrate the many ways in which racism continues to take root in society - and discuss how best to tackle it.

Supporting the Research Environment  

Our efforts to support the research environment at UCL, and to foster an environment where work on Europe can flourish, have also continued. Our [Black Europe] Reading Group hosted talks with Dr Beatrix Gassmann de Sousa on Affective Debt in Film, Dr Toyin Agbetu on Decolonisation and DEI Are Dead: Long Live Deracialisation, and Prof. Phiroze Vasunia on Andromeda and Representations of Myth.

We also celebrated the publication of a report by the UCL Policy Lab and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung on the 2025 German election, titled: “The Centre's Last Chance? Lessons from the 2025 German Election”, to which UCL European Institute Director, Dr Uta Staiger contributed. The report explores the record-low results for the centre left and right in Germany and asks what lessons can be learned for Britain, including the need to invest in public services and infrastructure. Uta Staiger and UCL Lecturer Dr Roland Kappe, another author featured in the report and engaged students in a lively discussion about the report’s insights.

We were also delighted to see a collaboration by UCL PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory) and the Royal College of Music's Performance Laboratory go ahead on the UCL Music Futures funded project "Rethinking Audience-Performer Interactions with Active Reverberation Technologies". UCL Music Futures is an initiative dedicated to thinking, writing and performing music, jointly hosted by the UCL European Institute and the UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, with support from UCL Grand Challenges.

Extending UCL’s Reach 

Lastly, we have continued to extend the reach of UCL ideas and expertise through strategic external engagement. A core element of the Institute’s programme last term was the European Literary Map of London and its accompanying exhibition, ‘Lost & Found: Mapping European Literary London’, which continued its tour of Europe, with pop-up exhibitions in Sweden, Spain, and Belgium, brokered by Head of Policy and Partnerships, Lucy Shackleton.

The display made its first stop of 2025 at a UCL Alumni reception in Stockholm, engaging UCL alumni in Sweden and highlighting shared cultural connections. It also appeared at the Hay Festival Forum in Seville, where the exhibition was officially opened by His Majesty’s Ambassador to Spain, Alex Ellis, hosted at El Corte Inglés Nervión. Finally, the Lost & Found exhibition was displayed at the Passa Porta festival in Brussels, the largest multilingual literary festival in Benelux.

In February, we co-hosted a closed roundtable with the UCL Centre for Net Zero Market Design, which brought together policymakers and industry from both the UK and EU, along with academic experts, to discuss possible ways forward to enhancing energy trade and cooperation on energy between the UK and EU ahead of the upcoming UK-EU Summit in May.

We also identified thinkers from across the UCL community for the Night of Ideas, organised by the Institut Français. The designated theme of this year’s edition, Taking Action, invited participants to reflect on the ability of governments, civil society and individuals to respond effectively to the world’s geopolitical disorder. 

Thank you 

To deliver the above, we have worked closely with a range of partners and collaborators across UCL and beyond. We wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued collaboration and support – and to encourage you to stay up to date with events and opportunities by signing up to our newsletter, following us on Instagram, Blue Sky and LinkedIn or by getting in touch with a member of the team.