Our special emphasis is on the policies of the European Union and on their comparison. We mainly work in three collaborative units, aside from individual research:
- Vienna Working Group on Digital Europe
Gerda Falkner established this group in 2020 to study the role of the EU in shaping the gradually advancing process of digitalisation and its implications for democracy and society. One of the main outcomes of this cooperation has been a Special Issue of the Journal of European Public Policy on Digital Sovereignty, edited by Gerda Falkner, Sebastian Heidebrecht, Anke Obendiek and Timo Seidl. It compares across many EU policies how much dependence on foreign tech giants and practices the European Union is willing to accept in the digital realm, and its initial steps towards more autonomy. Gerda Falkner’s colleagues in the “Vienna Working Group on Digital Europe” are currently Sebastian Heidebrecht, Christine Gajo and Beatrice Carella.
- Foreign, Security and Defence Policy
Patrick Müller conducts research on the EU’s foreign, security and defence policies. He is currently a partner in the EU-funded project Contested EU Foreign Policy in an Era of Geopolitics (EUFOG) and has led and participated in several externally funded projects on different segments of the EU’s international relations. The collaborative unit also includes David Gazsi and long-time colleague Peter Slominski, focusing on different aspects of the EU’s role in International Relations and Global Governance. Collaborative research has appeared in top tier journals in the field of European integration.
- Asylum and Border Control
Peter Slominski has led several externally funded projects on the subject of migration and border control and currently works on the Accountability of Frontex in EU Border Management (funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF) together with post-doc Magnus Schoeller who is also versed in policies of the Economic and Monetary Union, as well as German leadership in the EU. Their recent publications appear in renowned international journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Public Policy and the journal International Affairs.
