New LSE IDEAS-Jagiellonian University Partnership

The Central and South-East Europe Programme (CSEEP) at LSE IDEAS is pleased to announce a new collaborative partnership with the Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland (FIPS-JU).

This cooperation will contribute to LSE IDEAS and Jagiellonian University’s global exchange of ideas and knowledge building on our joined interest for academic research and outreach to a broader professional audience as well as general public. We have identified several areas of mutual interest for future research such as regional security and the CSEE region’s transatlantic relations, Poland’s role within the region and in the European Union, and strategic transnational partnerships and cooperation.

Our collaboration will be coordinated through an LSE IDEAS Poland Desk at Jagiellonian University. The Desk will facilitate the exchange of academic staff and students, publications and resources. It will also assist cooperation in research and the presentation of its results, including holding public events and conferences in London and Kraków, as well as a Visiting Fellowship scheme to fund a period of research in London or Kraków.

Thus far FIPS-JU political scientists and sociologists are already contributing to the CSEEP Ratiu Forum blog series on the regional impact of COVID-19, and participating in the Ratiu Forum’s "Dialogues on Democracy" event series in September. Further details of the 2020/21 programme and the LSE Visiting Fellow will be announced later in the year.

Professor Christopher Coker, LSE IDEAS Director, said, “We are delighted at LSE IDEAS to enter into a partnership with Jagiellonian University. The present pandemic has brought home the need for closer links between universities across the world as we all struggle to meet the challenge in different ways. One of the most pressing challenges is the need to strengthen democracy and civil society across Europe as well as to renew faith in liberal institutions. Our Central and South-East Europe Programme was established to do just that and we look forward to working with our Polish colleagues in the years to come.”

Professor Paweł Laidler, Dean of the FIPS-UJ, remarked: “We are very happy to have entered into a partnership with IDEAS. Our joint activities in the domains and topics related to current political and security dynamics, both worldwide and in Central and Eastern Europe, will contribute to an improved understanding of the present and firmer geo- and socio-political projections. As global challenges can be better met when public opinion and decision-makers are soundly informed, we aim to contribute to this end through our cooperation with IDEAS.”