10 May Shifting European Landscapes: How the EU Elections Will Shape UK Foreign Policy
On the 28th May, The British Foreign Policy Group was delighted to convene a panel of leading European and UK foreign policy experts to explore the key issues that could determine the outcome of the upcoming European Parliament elections, and what impact the results could have on UK-EU relations and the EU’s wider role in the world. It was a very insightful discussion, exploring impacts across foreign policy and security, migration, trade, tech and climate, and we will certainly be closely observing how the next UK Government navigates the new relationship.
Speakers
Professor Anand Menon
Professor Anand Menon is Director of The UK in a Changing Europe, an academic think tank providing impartial, research-based analysis of the critical issues facing the UK. Professor Menon is also a professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London. Prior to this, he was a Professor of West European Politics, and founding Director of the European Research Institute at the University of Birmingham. He was University Lecturer in European Politics and Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford, and has held visiting positions at New York University, Columbia University and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, amongst others. He is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House and Senior Associate member of Nuffield College, Oxford. He is co-editor of the journal, West European Politics.
Dr Mafalda Dâmaso
Associate Fellow at the British Foreign Policy Group and a Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute and Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London. Her work focuses on EU cultural and media policy and its intersection with diplomacy. Currently, she works as Principal Investigator for Erasmus University Rotterdam on REBOOT, a Horizon Europe project focused on the competitiveness of the European film industry. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute. Previously, among other experiences, Mafalda worked with or for the Centre on Public Diplomacy of the University of Southern California, the German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, the European Parliament, and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Based in London, she is also a Member of the UK Council of Creative UK, Senior Media Policy Advisor of the UK Coalition for Cultural Diversity, and a Member of the Scientific Council of the Portuguese Association of Researchers and Students in the UK.
Professor Richard Whitman
Professor Whitman is a Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent, joining the university in September 2011. Prior, he was Professor of Politics at the University of Bath, Senior Fellow, Europe (April 2006-April 2007) and Head of the European Programme at Chatham House (April 2004 to April 2006). Prior to arrival at Chatham House he was Professor of European Studies at the University of Westminster where he was also Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy from 2001-2003. Professor Whitman is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), an Academic Fellow at the European Policy Centre, and an ESRC Senior Fellow on the UK in a Changing Europe initiative. Professor Whitman was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in October 2007 and from 2009-2012 the elected Chair of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES). He was a Chair of the British International Studies Association (BISA) from 2017-2018.
Evie Aspinall
Evie Aspinall is the Director of the British Foreign Policy Group. Her primary research interests are domestic consent for foreign policy, the UK’s role in the world and challenges posed by the UK’s strategic rivals. Evie holds a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MSc from King’s College London. She has previously worked at UN Women UK and the Future Leaders Network and was formerly the UK Head Delegate to the Youth7, the G7’s official youth engagement group. She also served as President of Cambridge University Students’ Union. She is a regular commentator in the media on issues pertinent to UK foreign policy.
