In many ways, the EU appears to be in a period of transition: recovering from the financial crisis, continuing to implement the Lisbon Treaty’s provisions, and awaiting a new set of European elections. Have these developments produced change in the EU’s politics and policies, or has it been Brussels as usual? The Organizing Committee of the Ninth Annual Graduate Student Conference on the European Union welcomes graduate students from around the world to contribute to the theme of the conference, as well as others related to the EU.

In addition to panels at which students will present their work, two roundtables have been organized with help from co-sponsors the European Union Studies Association (EUSA) and the U.S. Network of European Union Centers of Excellence. The first roundtable will focus on the current state of EU studies. Panelists will include Michelle Cini (co-editor of JCMS), Alberta Sbragia (Vice-Provost and Professor of Political Science), and John Keeler (Dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs). Professor Guy Peters (Political Science) will chair. The second roundtable will be discuss the ins and outs of the job search process. Erica Edwards, Executive Director of the EUCE at UNC-Chapel Hill, will chair.

The Keynote Address will be provided by Michelle Cini, University of Bristol. Her talk will be entitled: “Membership 'as usual': why Britain will (probably) stay in the European Union?”