Assuming that high-level scientific reflections supported by doctoral studies are in a position to support the emergence of a common strategic culture for the benefit of the European Union’s security and defence, voluntary academic and scientific institutes as well as practising institutions have decided to enhance the attractiveness of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as a topic for doctoral studies. In 2017, they initiated a network-based virtual European Doctoral School on the CSDP in the framework of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and, since its official opening in 2018, seek to provide doctoral researchers throughout the Union with a learning and research environment conducive to fostering scientific reflections on the past, present and future of the continent’s security and defence.
Notwithstanding its young age, the European Doctoral School has already made the CSDP a doctoral discipline by gathering the necessary critical mass of scientific and academic resources from all relevant theoretical and practical sources, by pooling and sharing the most relevant expertise and experience on the subject for the benefit of PhD researchers and of those institutions taking part in the scientific reflections directly or indirectly. Less than a year after its launch, 40 institutions from 16 Member States had committed themselves to the initiative, including European Union agencies, universities and research centres.
Its Working Group centralises and disseminates information on opportunities for the CSDP PhD Fellows – 12 as of July 2019 – for training, sharing and publishing their knowledge, and it develops new offers as appropriate. The first CSDP Summer University, which took place from 8 to 12 July 2019 at the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, in Brussels, is one of those creations. The participation configuration allowed for in-depth scientific discussions on topical CSDP issues and challenges and for exchanges of experience and best practices in research methodologies. The CSDP PhD Fellows, who expressed a high level of satisfaction with the event and the initiative, are preparing a collective publication based on the output of these scientific exchanges, under the supervision of the Course Directors, Assistant Professor Fotini Bellou and Mr Symeon Zambas, and the EU Institute for Security Studies.
During its plenary meeting, on 11 and 12 July, the Working Group took note of the lessons learnt of this first edition and planned the next actions to be engaged, notably the implementation of a partnership with the European Defence Agency. It was informed of the succession of Mr. Symeon Zambas by Dr. Ilias Katsagounos as coordinator of the initiative for the ESDC Secretariat. It also elected its new Chair, Associate Professor Foteini Asderaki, as a successor to Dr. Sylvain Paile-Calvo who had founded the initiative for the European Doctoral on the CSDP.
For more information on the actions of the Doctoral School please visit the following webpage:
https://esdc.europa.eu/doctoral-school/
