Winter University of European Doctoral School on CSDP
The Winter University of European Doctoral School on CSDP took place between 16 and 20 November 2020 in the framework of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) in close cooperation with the University of Public Service in Budapest. The director of the online course was Professor Anna Molnár.
The Winter University is the annual training event for the CSDP PhD Fellows, who could join the initiative of the Doctoral School on CSDP since 2018. The participants of the course therefore represented close to 10 EU Member States.
The European Doctoral School promotes multi-disciplinary doctoral research in the CSDP context. The aim of the Winter University is to develop a critical mass of scientific and academic expertise that brings together supervisors and mentors and promotes the exchange of knowledge, skills and competences on European Security and Defence with a view to providing support for PhD level research reflecting on the CSDP.
The CSDP Winter University aims at disseminating knowledge, information and reflecting scientifically on the essential topics of the Common Security and Defence Policy for supporting related doctoral researches.
The first day of the course focused on the general state of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy, and its possible future challenges. The speakers, Professor Sven Biscop, and Professor Daniel Fiott are both prominent European experts regarding CSDP. On the second day, different topics were covered from cyber through the EU’s strategic autonomy, to EU-NATO relations. The special feature of the day was an EU Crisis Management Simulation Game.
Wednesday was dedicated to the very much needed methodology, where various experts of the University of Public Service enlightened the participants about this sometimes neglected, but important field. Mixed Methods Research was introduced by Balázs Mártonffy, Case Study and Process Tracing by Réka Máthé, Content Analysis by Éva Jakusné Harnos.
Thursday and Friday continued with the presentation of the work of the CSDP PhD Fellows. In five panels, the Fellows touched topics about EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-Transatlantic relations, Counter-terrorism, CSDP missions and operations and Cyber.
The next Doctoral School call for PhD Fellows will take place early January 2021.
More information will be made available indue time.
