Work environment

As a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, the IEE-ULB is recognized for its expertise in European Studies. The IEE-ULB carries out its own interdisciplinary research projects. At the same time, it promotes the work of its affiliated members on European issues within the associated research units and centres of its three partner faculties (the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Law and Criminology, The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management).  The IEE-ULB develops an interdisciplinary research agenda established by the Institute’s Research Committee. The current agenda is based on four research themes that are articulated around political sciences, law, economics, history, values and global interactions: Europe as an area of freedom, security and justice, Europe as an area of economic and social regulation, Europe as a community of norms and values and Europe in the world.

For more than 50 years, the Center for European Law has established itself as a place of scholarly analysis and high-level debate on European law. The Center first existed as the legal section of the IEE-ULB. It now exists as a Center attached to the Faculty of Law and Criminology since 2015. Today, it aims to continue to support through its research and teaching activities the developments and challenges of European construction, by providing an analysis critical and contextual based on the expertise and diversity of profiles of its researchers. The research carried out at the Center for European Law aims to address the developments and challenges of European construction through its research, by providing a critical and contextual analysis based on the expertise and diversity of profiles of its researchers. The research activities of its members can be grouped around four major areas of research mirroring those of the IEE-ULB. These research areas are reflected in the topics tackled by PhD researchers, the academic networks co-coordinated by professors and the projects carried out. Thanks to its location in Brussels, the Centre has also been able to develop and ensure a connection with the practice of European law. This is reflected in its members as well as in the events it organizes, which are open to the university community, practitioners, and civil society.

The hired Communication Officer will be a member of both the Centre de Droit européen (CDE) as well as  the IEE-ULB dedicated to the implementation, coordination, and promotion of European projects. Under the direction of the project’s ULB-based principal investigator – Pr. Chloé Brière, the hire will collaborate with the Communication Director (M-I. Soldevila), and the senior project manager of the IEE-ULB (F. Ponjaert), as well as a designated member of the CDE and IEE’s standing secretarial staff.

Job description

The selected candidate will be hired as a full-time Communication Officer in European Studies, in the framework of the EU-funded project NAVIGATOR (The EU Navigating Multilateral Cooperation).

The hired Communication Officer will be involved in the dissemination, exploitation and communication efforts associated with one EU-funded research project locally led by Professor Chloé Brière.

The mandate is granted for an initial term of 1 year. At the end of the year, the mandate can be twice renewed for a further 1-year term.

The project

The project in question NAVIGATOR is a 48 month long, 3 million euro, interdisciplinary, international and intersectoral project across 8 European and 4 non-European countries. It is coordinated by the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs – NUPI (PI John Karlsrud). It involves 10 higher education institutions: Copenhagen Business School, Université libre de Bruxelles, Universiteit Maastricht, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Talinna Teknikaülikool, University of Ottawa and Waseda University. They are joined in the consortium by 2 non-academic partners: European Council for Foreign Relations Deutschland, and the Transatlantic Foundation (German Marshall Fund).

The project aims to address the questions about how the EU should navigate the increasingly complex – and conflict-laden – institutional spaces of global governance to advance a rules-based international order and what factors should be emphasized when considering which institutions to strengthen, which to reform, and which to by-pass when revitalizing multilateralism. NAVIGATOR’s main objective is to answer these questions and deliver a ready-to-use “search mechanism” and associated pathways of action that the EU and its member states can use as it seeks to strengthen a rules-based international order. To achieve this, NAVIGATOR will explore institutional variations on six policy issues – climate change, digitalisation, finance/tax, health, migration, and security – to identify what institutional mixes enable the EU to have an optimal impact on a given policy issue. The project will explore variation in formality (formal to informal), accessibility (open to closed), and normativity (expressed purpose is technical to openly normative). Drawing on these data and complementing these with content analysis, social network analysis, semi-structured interviews and European and global surveys, NAVIGATOR develops a “search mechanism” that allows the EU and member states to compare strengths and weaknesses of existing multilateral organizations, determine which can be reformed and which are too costly to reform, identify and assess alternatives, and, on this basis, develop action strategies to reform multilateralism.

Position description

The IEE-ULB is looking for a full-time Communication Officer. He/she will be charged with the implementation of the impact agenda of the EU-funded project listed above, as foreseen in the Work Package 9 of the project.

This will involve:

  • Continuously developing the project’s dedicated dissemination, communication and exploitation instruments, including content creation – e.g. website, publications, policy briefs, podcasts, social media …
  • Providing coordination in terms of dissemination, communication and exploitation between the partner institutions of the consortium
  • Streamlining the interactions between the project’s dissemination, communication and exploitation agenda and instruments, and those of the CDE/IEE-ULB
  • Development and assistance in the implementation of NAVIGATOR shared Conference Strategy (participation in international conferences, organization of outreach events in third countries and the hosting of an annual NAVIGATOR conference in a Member State or Associated State)
  • Development and assistance in the implementation of the project’s publication strategy, including ongoing content produced for the different communication platforms, policy briefs and forecasting strategies

He/she is particularly responsible for the content production, scheduling, coordinating, supervising, and reporting on the execution of NAVIGATOR’s impact efforts, both transversal to the whole project as well as those included in WP9 of the project, coordinated by the ULB.

Responsibilities

The hired Communication Officer will contribute to the following missions:

Mission 1 : Manage the Implementation and Reporting of the IMPACT agenda of the NAVIGATOR project, including by:

  • Managing and producing communication, dissemination and exploitation content for NAVIGATOR’s website, blogs, newsletter, and social media platforms
  • Monitoring and Reporting on the progress made in terms of Milestones and Deliverables
  • Facilitating and supporting the organization of NAVIGATOR’s scheduled impact events
  • Responding to inquiries, both from the constituent members of the project and from third parties

Mission 2 : Synchronize with the Implementation of NAVIGATOR’s impact strategy with that of the partner organisations, including by:

  • Coordinating impact efforts with partner institutions with an eye on maximizing possible synergies
  • Facilitate cross-fertilization and economies of scale between the communication, exploitation, and dissemination of the individual partners and the consortium
  • Support the organization of NAVIGATOR impact events
  • Ensure the compatibility between NAVIGATOR, CDE and IEE dissemination efforts, again with an eye on maximum efficiency and synergies of scale

Mission 3 : Administrative and event

  • Administrative support for ULB researchers involved in the project
  • Event organisation
  • Support for travel and payment processes

Profile:

Candidates must have a master’s degree, preferably in the field of communication, journalism with an interest in European Affairs

General knowledge and skills:

Candidates must:

  • Be familiar with (European) Project  communication management
  • Master professional English, both oral and written
  • Be both a team-player and a team leader, as the hire will:
  • Operate as a part of an international research team
  • Supervise and accompany the work of designated secretarial collaborators
  • Set-up & coordinate ad hoc teams of support staff constituted for major events
  • Be rigorous, organized, and detail oriented. The hire is expected to:
    • Have an acute sense of organization and coordination
    • Carry out various tasks while participating in multiple dialogues
    • Work well in team as well as independently
    • Respond promptly to submitted queries, both internal and external
  • Support the communication and dissemination of research and training activities by:
  • Generating and managing a content calendar for the project
  • Producing promotional and communication-related copy & visuals
  • Producing multimedia content (podcasts, videos)
  • Managing research related web content, including the NAVIGATOR project website
  • Managing the projects’ social media platforms
  • Production of a semestrial Newsletter
  • Bring a certain emotional intelligence and diplomacy to the table
  • Have experience in some or all the following areas:
  • Project Planning,  the scheduling and follow-up of set Deliverables & Milestones
  • Writing project reports
  • Event organisation, incl. the coordination, implementation and reporting on Research and/or Training events(e.g., conferences, summer schools, workshops, international conferences …)
  • Research Centre/Project Back Office work,(e.g., travel bookings, payments, accounting, supply and office management, …)

Additional relevant assets include:

  • Familiarity with European Affairs and/or a background in European studies
  • Knowledge of French will be considered an asset
  • Familiarity with the budgetary procedures of EU-funded programmes
  • The functional knowledge of other languages is useful but not mandatory.
  • Additional competences that are particularly useful and considered an asset include:
  • Graphic design and IT skills (knowledge of Canva, Adobe, WordPress are an important plus)
  • A good understanding of the functioning of universities and their administrative and budgetary processes
  • Knowledge of the structure and functioning of the IEE-ULB and the ULB/ability to get familiarised with the functioning of the ULB

Application procedure

Application files must include the following information in English:

  • A detailed Professional Curriculum Vitae
  • A personal motivation letter – two pages maximum
  • A description of your previous involvement in, or experience of, (European) project communication management or other related fields- one page maximum
  • The names and e-mail addresses of two professional references (who may be contacted by those evaluating applications to ensure a balanced analysis.  These referees should not have conflicts of interest because of familial or emotional ties

Applications are open until June 7th. Click here to apply! 

Equal opportunity policy:

ULB’s personnel policy is based on diversity and equal opportunity.

We recruit candidates on the basis of their skills, regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, origin, nationality, beliefs, disability, etc.

Would you like to be provided with reasonable accommodation in the selection procedure because of a disability, disorder, or illness?  Please contact Sophie Veys, the person in charge of diversity aspects for the academic and scientific staff (sophie.veys@ulb.be). Be assured of the confidentiality of this information.

More details on the ULB gender and diversity policy are available at https://www.ulb.be/en/about-ulb/gender-equality-at-ulb.

Photo de Austin Distel sur Unsplash