Registrations are now open for non-presenting participants wishing to attend the European Union in International Affairs (EUIA) Conference 2025. The ninth edition of the conference (#EUIA25) will take place in Brussels from 21 to 23 May 2025, focusing on the theme Europe in a Fragmenting World. This major forum brings together some 300 academics and policymakers from more than 40 different countries, to debate the role of the EU in addressing global challenges.
Over the course of three days, the conference will explore this theme through panel discussions, keynote speeches, and roundtables with practitioners and journal editors. The programme will address some of today’s most pressing geopolitical and economic challenges, fostering substantive policy dialogue and critical reflection.
A special keynote address will be delivered by EU Commissioner Marta Kos.
Whether participants are presenting or not, EUIA25 offers exceptional networking opportunities. From dedicated sessions and informal meet-ups to interactive events with leading academic journals, the conference provides ideal moments for exchanging ideas, building collaborations, and expanding professional networks.
The registration fee is 90 EUR per day, or 195 EUR for the full three-day conference. The registration deadline is 13 May at 23:59 CET.
About the EUIA25 conference
In 2019, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, launched the concept of a ‘Geopolitical Commission’, which was intended to lead to a more geopolitical stance of Europe in international affairs. This concept, elaborated in a context of growing tensions between the United States and China, has reverberated in European debates and has been tested against multiple and diverse crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the war against Ukraine and the Israeli offensive in Gaza following Hamas attacks, as well as the ongoing environmental emergencies.
After the European Parliament elections in June 2024 and a new political leadership taking over, questions persist regarding the role that the EU can claim in a world that is increasingly fragmenting along multiple political, social, ideological as well as ecological and economic lines. More specifically, what does it entail for the EU to think and act more geopolitically? And what are the consequences? Does it make the EU more pragmatic, enhancing scope of action in the world? Or does it contribute to a global polarisation, where the EU is facing more contestation?
The 9th edition of the EUIA conference taking place in Brussels in May 2025 offers a forum to debate the different considerations of the EU’s relations within a fragmenting world in the past five years. To foster an interdisciplinary and international debate, we invite contributions examining European external policy domains, actors and practices, including from the perspective of non-European actors.
In addition to academic panel discussions, the conference will allow for substantive policy dialogue through keynote speeches and roundtables with practitioners. Other programme’s highlights will include networking sessions, awards, and interactive events with leading academic journals in the field.
#EUIA25 is jointly organised by the Brussels School of Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BSoG-VUB), the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS), the Institut d’études européennes at the Université libre de Bruxelles (IEE-ULB), Egmont – the Royal Institute for International Relations, and the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) of the University of Warwick.