Morning Event
Chair: Prof Federica Bicci (IRD)
Federica Bicchi’s current research focuses on contemporary trends in European diplomacy, especially in relation to the digitalisation of diplomacy and developments in European foreign policy cooperation. Her theoretical perspective contributes to the “practice turn” in International Relations.
Recent publications include articles in Review of International Studies, Cooperation and Conflict, Global Networks, Journal of Common Market Studies, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Geopolitics, Journal of European Public Policy, Democratization, and Geopolitics. She has published European Foreign Policy Making towards the Mediterranean (Palgrave, 2007), and edited inter alia Europe and the Occupation of Palestinian Territories since 1967 (Routledge), European Diplomatic Practices (2018, with Niklas Bremberg) and The Struggle for Influence in the Middle East (2015, with Benoit Challand and Steven Heydeman).
She holds a PhD degree in Political Science from the European University Institute and has spent research periods at Stanford University, New York University (New York), University of Siena and the Free University of Berlin.
Speaker: Richard Higgott is currently Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy, Brussels School of Governance; Visiting Fellow, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Study, European University Institute and Emeritus Professor of International Political Economy, University of Warwick. His last book was States, Civilisations and the Reset of World Order, 2023.
Afternoon Event
Chair: Prof Chris Alden teaches International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he is Deputy Head of the Department (PhD and Research). He is also Director of LSE IDEAS. He is a Research Associate with South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
Speaker: Prof Iain Begg is a Professorial Research Fellow at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science. His main research work is on the political economy of European integration and EU economic governance. He has directed and participated in a series of research projects on different facets of EU policy and his current projects include studies on the governance of EU economic and social policy, the economic and fiscal consequences of Brexit, evaluation of EU cohesion policy and reform of the EU budget. Other recent research projects include work on policy co-ordination under EMU and the social impact of globalisation.
He has published extensively in academic journals and served as co-editor of the Journal of Common Market Studies, the leading academic journal focusing on the study of European integration, from 1998 to 2003. He has undertaken a number of advisory roles, including being a member of a groupe de prospective on the future of cohesion policy, serving as the rapporteur of the high-level group that carried out the interim evaluation of the EU' 7th Framework Programme for Research and acting as an expert witness or specialist adviser on EU issues for the House of Commons Treasury Committee, the House of Lords European Communities Committee and the European Parliament. He is a frequent contributor to international conferences on EU economic policy issues and is regularly solicited for interviews by journalists.