Research Team

Dr Carolyn Rowe is Co-Director of the Aston Centre for Europe, an inter-disciplinary hub for policy-relevant research and knowledge transfer on Europe, based at Aston University in Birmingham, UK. Carolyn has expertise in the analysis of territorial politics in the EU, German federalism and devolution in the UK. She is co-author of a book on “Decentralising Policy Responsibility and Political Authority in Germany” (Palgrave, 2022). She has provided analysis on the role of the German Länder in the European Union to a number of EU institutions, the UK Shadow Europe team and the Scottish Parliament.

Dr Rachel Minto is a Lecturer in Politics based in the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University. She has a background in EU politics and governance and a particular interest in gender equality. Drawing on this research background, she is now addressing questions surrounding the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and the implications this will have for the politics and governance of a post-devolution UK. Her current research projects explore the following areas: UK sub-state paradiplomacy towards the EU; inter-governmental relations in the UK post-Brexit; and gender equality governance across the UK post-Brexit.

David Criekemans is an Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Antwerp and KULeuven, Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Security at the University College Roosevelt in Middelburg and Senior Lecturer in Geopolitics at the Geneva Institute of Geopolitical Studies (GIGS). He is also a Visiting Professor in Foreign Policy of Sub-State Entities at Blanquerna, Ramon Lull University in Barcelona. Previously, he taught Geopolitics at the Belgian Royal Military Academy (RMA) in Brussels (2007-2011), Regional Integration at the Catholic University Brussels and at the Latin American and Caribbean Institute of Geopolitical Studies (LACIGS) on Curaçao. David Criekemans has also since 1997 pioneered academic writing on the federalisation of the foreign policy of Belgium, Flemish foreign policy and comparative regional foreign policy. In 2010, he was editor of the often-quoted book “Regional Sub-State Diplomacy Today” (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers).

Michelle Egan is a Jean Monnet Professor Ad Personam and Professor of Comparative Politics and Political Economy in the School of International Service at American University. She was a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center and a Council of Foreign Relations Fellow. She specialises in European integration, global governance, comparative federalism, transatlantic relations, European law, and standards and trade issues. Her book Single Markets: Economic Integration in Europe and the United States received the Larry Neal Prize in EU Studies. She has published books such as Research Agendas in European Studies, as well as articles in New Political Economy, the Journal of Common Market Studies and West European Politics, among others. She has received fellowships from the German Marshall Fund and the European University Institute, among others. She is a regular commentator on news media including C-Span and CNN International. She holds a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.

Maria Helena Guimarães is a tenured Associate Professor of International Political Economy, European Integration, Global Economy and Political Economy of International Business at the University of Minho. She holds a Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic Integration since 2000. Her areas of interest are the political economy of European integration, the single market, the political economy of international trade, subnational markets and trade, and the political economy of non-tariff barriers. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the American University and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington. She has published in journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies and Regional and Federal Studies. She co-edited a book on the Single Market, published several book chapters and Political economy theories and international trade. She has received research grants from the Fulbright Program and the European Commission, among others. She holds a PhD from the University of Cincinnati.

Michel Huysseune, Ph.D., is professor of Political Science and senior researcher at the Free University of Brussels. His fields of interest include the construction of political ideologies with a focus on the Lega Nord in Italy and sub-state nationalism in general, the interrelation between regionalism and European integration, and the representation of sub-national authorities at the European level. He has published numerous articles on these topics in scholarly reviews and edited volumes. He is the author of Modernity and Secession. The Social Sciences and the Political Discourse of the Lega Nord in Italy, Oxford, Berghahn, 2006 and the editor of Contemporary Centrifugal Regionalism: Comparing Flanders and Northern Italy. Brussels, The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, 2011, and (together with Bruno Coppieters) of Secession, History and the Social Sciences. Brussels, VUB Brussels University Press, 2002.

André Lecours is Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. His main research interests are nationalism and federalism. He is the editor of New Institutionalism. Theory and Analysis published by the University of Toronto Press in 2005, the author of Basque Nationalism and the Spanish State (University of Nevada Press, 2007), the co-author (with Daniel Béland) of Nationalism and Social Policy. The Politics of Territorial Solidarity (Oxford University Press, 2008); the co-author (with Daniel Béland, Gregory Marchildon, Haizhen Mou and Rose Olfert) of Fiscal Federalism and Equalization Policy in Canada. Political and Economic Dimensions (University of Toronto Press, 2017); the co-editor (with Guy Laforest and Nikola Brassard-Dion) of Constitutional Politics in Multinational Democracies (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021); and the author of Nationalism, Secessionism, and Autonomy (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

Stéphane Paquin is Full Professor at the École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP) in Montréal. He has written, co-written or edited 33 books, including Theories of International Political Economy (2016), and many more articles about international and comparative political economy. He has received numerous awards, including a Canada Research Chair in International and Comparative Political Economy and a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the State University of New York. He has taught in many universities, including Northwestern University in Chicago and Sciences Po in Paris. In 2014, he was the President of the local organizing committee of the World Congress of Political Science Montréal-2014 (IPSA).

Elin Royles is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University and a member of the Centre for Welsh Politics and Society. Her main research and teaching interests are territorial politics and sub-state governance. She has published on the international relations of sub-state governments, inter-governmental relations, civil society and regional and minority language policy and planning. Her work often draws on her expertise on the case of Wales in a devolved UK and she has also been involved in comparative research collaborations. She is currently involved in an EU Horizon 2020 and an UK ESRC funded research project regarding nationalist movements, self-government and secessionism (IMAJINE on Spatial Justice and Territorial Inequalities in Europe and a WISERD project on the grassroots politics of separatism).

Dr. Martin Große Hüttmann is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Political Science, University of Tübingen, Germany. He is also Member of the Board of the European Centre for Research of Federalism Tübingen. His research interests include German federalism, EU Policy of the German Länder and European Integration.

Annegret Eppler is a Professor of Public Law at University of Public Administration Kehl. She holds a Jean Monnet Chair of the European Union. She holds a doctorate (University of Tübingen, Germany) and habilitation (University of Innsbruck, Austria), both in political science. She is interested in the intersections between law and political science, and in particular in multi-level systems (subnational actors, European (dis)integration, issues of legitimacy, and causes of dynamics).