Bradford's Jean Monnet Chair invited to Moscow

The conference, whose purpose was to strengthen EU Integration Studies at Russian universities, was taking place at difficult times. EU-Russia relations have seen challenging patterns of Russian behaviour, with the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the war in Irak, Russian meddling in Western elections and referenda, and most recently the Salisbury poisoning.

In this highly tense context, the conference was a welcome opportunity to provide a framework for improving a dialogue based on communication and mutual understanding. It is particularly in difficult times that dialogue needs to be nurtured. This dialogue was not limited to Russian and Western academics. High representatives from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the EU Commission and the EU Delegation in Russia were also actively involved in the two days. Whilst participants were largely Russian academics, several members of the Jean Monnet global academic community came from Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Greece, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the US. There were no Ukrainian representatives. Jean-Marc was the sole representative from a UK university.

Participants were able to engage in a fruitful exchange of experiences and ideas on current Jean Monnet projects, learn from each other’s views, build mutual understanding, discuss potential research cooperations, and consider what unites the EU and Russia rather than what divides them. There is a need to act in the field of academic cooperation and shape a European Academic Area that comprises the whole European continent including Russia. With 91 Jean Monnet projects being currently implemented in the Russian Federation and growing academic interest in European integration studies, the wisdom of promoting academic mobility and international exchanges as a catalyst for building trust did not have to be demonstrated.

, who holds a Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Bradford and leads the Jean Monnet Network ‘The EU, Africa and China in the Global Age’, has gained a wide experience of representing the values of Jean Monnet outside the European Union, in Lebanon, Tunisia, Georgia, Tanzania, Kenya, and most recently Uganda.