European Institute facilitates senior leadership visit to Brussels

UCL’s Vice-Provost Research, Innovation & Global Engagement, Professor Geraint Rees, led a delegation visit to mainland Europe to engage and reconnect with UCL’s community of partners, alumni, and policymakers through a series of meetings and events. 

In her capacity as Global Strategic Academic Advisor for Europe, the European Institute Director Dr Uta Staiger accompanied Prof. Rees throughout the week, for meetings to launch a UCL – KU Leuven institutional double PhD framework, and to deepen collaborations with Inria, SciencesPo, the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL).

The visit also included a day and a half in Brussels brokered and coordinated by Head of Public Policy and Partnerships at the UCL EI, Lucy Shackleton, providing UCL senior leadership with an opportunity to engage directly with EU research and higher education policymakers, on topics including maximising UK participation in Horizon Europe and the 10^th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, currently in development. Prof. Geraint Rees and Dr Uta Staiger met with colleagues from the European Commission, the UK Mission to the European Union and the Swiss Mission to the EU, highlighting the importance of international research collaboration and the relevance of UCL’s expertise, for tackling shared challenges and reinforcing European security, sustainability and resilience.