TEPSA will organise its second Working Europe Seminar on March 27-31 2017 in the framework of its ERASMUS+/Jean Monnet project PONT (Professional Training on EU Affairs).
During a 5-day seminar in Brussels, at the heart of EU politics, students will enjoy first-hand insights from researchers, EU practitioners and officials on current top priorities of the EU policies and politics in the Climate, Energy and Environment fields. The completion of the internal energy market as well as actions against climate change is on top of the EU’s strategic agenda. Discussions with practitioners from the field will complement the readings students are expected to prepare before the start of the course. Visits to the European institutions and civil society organization will also provide the seminar with added value.
Besides master’s students from law, economics and political sciences, this seminar will be of particular interests for students from engineering and environmental studies who will be able to gain insights into the political realities in energy policy and at the same time contribute through fruitful practical insights from their disciplines.
PONT is a project that aims to provide a bridge connecting young academics and EU practitioners, in order to improve the employability of young researchers. A Working Seminar on Asylum and Migration Policies and a Career Skills Training have already been held throughout 2016.
Event Report
On 27-31 March 2017, TEPSA successfully organised the second edition of the PONT Working Europe Seminar. 17 Master and PhD students from different national and disciplinary backgrounds attended a series of high-level lectures and panel discussions, gaining first-hand insights from researchers, EU policymakers and officials, NGO workers and business representatives on the current top priorities and trends of EU policy and politics in the fields of climate, energy and the environment, with speakers from Bruegel, the European Commission, the Committee of Regions, the Council of European Energy Regulators, Business Europe and Greenpeace, among others. The seminar also included visits to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission’s DG Clima, with the Commission’s head of negotiations for COP 21.
On the last day of the seminar, students combined the theoretical and practical insights gained during the week in a simulation game led by Prof Dr Johannes Pollak, Academic Coordinator of the PONT Project. The exercise simulated European Council negotiations on a crisis in energy security, in which students performed the role of member state and EU representatives.
The seminar was organised by TEPSA and led by Prof Dr Jaap W. de Zwaan, Emeritus Professor of European Union Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Secretary-General of TEPSA.
The Working Europe Seminars (taking place once a year) are part of the PONT (Professional Training on EU Affairs) project, a project that aims at building a bridge connecting postgraduate students and young academics with EU practitioners, in order to improve their employability.
PONT enhances teaching and training activities in selected policy fields, with the objective to give postgraduate students and young academics the opportunity to develop their professional skills and prepare them for taking up a job in public administration, the EU institutions, NGOs, academia or think tanks across Europe. PONT is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
The seminar report will soon be available on TEPSA’s website. Photos of the seminars are available on TEPSA’s facebook page.
The full detailed report on this seminar, prefaced by Seminar Leader Jaap de Zwaan and including the conclusions of the seminar’s simulation of European Council negotiations, is now available here.
Working Europe Seminar: speakers’ presentations now available
On 27-31 March 2017, TEPSA organised the second edition of its PONT Working Europe Seminar, on EU energy, climate and environmental policy. 17 Master and PhD students from different national and disciplinary backgrounds attended a series of lectures and panel discussions on the current top priorities and trends of EU energy, climate and environmental policy.
All the speakers’ presentation are now available on this website:
- Dr Simone Tagliapietra, Research Fellow at Bruegel, gave the introductory lecture in the form of an overview of EU energy, climate and environmental policy.
- Prof Jaap de Zwaan, presented the legal and institutional history of EU policy in those fields.
- Ms Suzana Carp (Sandbag) presented the shortcomings of the EU ETS from an environmentalist perspective, and Mr Leon de Graaf (Business Europe) presented the industry’s view of the ETS.
- Ms Elina Bardram (European Commission’s DG Climate Action) gave an overview of the advancement of climate negotiations at COP21 and COP22.
- Stéphanie Brochard (American Chamber of Commerce to the EU) presented the role of EU-US relations for climate and energy policy.
- Dr Georg Zachmann, Senior Research fellow at Bruegel, presented the challenges of European energy security.
- Mr Ion Codescu, Head of the environmental implementation unit at the European Commission’s DG Environment, presented the legal and institutional aspects of EU environmental enforcement.
- Mr Andrew Ebrill, Secretary General of the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), presented the role of energy regulators in the European context.
Call for applications: TEPSA’s ‘Working Europe seminar’ on EU energy, environment and climate policy
From the 27th to the 31st of March 2017, TEPSA will organise its second Working Europe seminar on EU energy, environment and climate policy for Master’s students and Master’s graduates, in Brussels.
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, this 5-day seminar, organised within the framework of PONT, will offer 20 participants from different national and disciplinary backgrounds the opportunity to gain first-hand insights from high-level professionals from EU institutions, academia, civil society and the private sector on the current top priorities and trends of EU policy and politics in the fields of energy, climate and the environment. Through a series of lectures, meetings and visits to EU institutions and Brussels-based organisations, participants will be able to improve their knowledge of EU policy, enhance their analytical and argumentative skills, start building their network and increase their employability.
This seminar is open to students in law, social sciences (e.g. European affairs, politics, geography, economics) and natural sciences (e.g. engineering, environmental sciences). The participation fee is €200, and travel costs will be reimbursed up to €250.
