Being an Author for the Academic Articles Section implies that you are researching and writing a single academic article throughout the year (from mid-October until the end of June) that goes on to be published in the IE EU Journal. The article shall be around 10 to 15 thousand words and follow a clearly defined methodology that will be explained in the guidelines, the template and in the beginning of your work on the introductory call. The topic will be of your choosing with the precipice of being related to European Affairs in one capacity or another.

At the very beginning of the research process, you will be assigned a mentor who is a senior academic or professional in the field of European Affairs (typically a PhD student, graduate or a Professor) who will work with you until the end of the year. You will also have the continuous help of the Editorial Board, composed of the Editor-in-Chief and the Director for Academic Articles (with his team).

The opportunity is open to both masters and undergraduates of any degree program.

The Journal will be accepting 15 papers in total due to the prioritisation of academic quality. Papers may be co-written which has to be indicated in the application form (maximum of 3 students can work on a single paper).

DEADLINE TO APPLY: OCTOBER 3RD, 23.59

The EU Journal encourages Authors to take an interdisciplinary approach to researching the topic of their choice. There are two limitations imposed on your creative liberty. Primarily, the necessity to respect the composition requirements (your article must contain an abstract, theoretical framework (overview of relevant literature), a clear and specific research question, a hypothesis made in reference to the theoretical framework, a conclusion and a discussion of the results (consisting of the possible imperfections of your methodology, as well as relevant not yet researched questions related to your topic). In addition to the composition, the topic has to be concerned with European Affairs.

To properly propose a topic, keep in mind the following:
(1) the topic must be specific (eg. if your area of interest is the gender pay gap in the European Union, you won’t propose a topic called “gender pay gap in the EU” but rather something along the lines of “Examining the relationship between the availability of paternity leave in EU Member States and their respective gender pay gaps”;
(2) your topic can utilise social psychology, sociology, political science, economics, EU law, etc. as long as it examines phenomena through an EU lens;
(3) your topic can concern actors external to the EU (such as the Council of Europe, the United Nations, candidate countries, the United Kingdom, etc.) as long as those actors are discussed in the context of the EU.

Examples of relevant research questions would include, but are not limited to:

~ How has the rise of populist parties influenced policymaking within the European Parliament?
~ To what extent has the EU acted as a global diplomatic actor in mediating the Ukraine crisis?
~ How has the European Court of Justice shaped the balance between national sovereignty and supranational authority?
~ How effective has the European Central Bank been in addressing inflationary pressures in the Eurozone?