The European University Institute (EUI) is an international institution created by the Member States of the founding European Communities in 1972. Its main objective is to provide advanced academic training to Ph.D students and to promote research at the highest level. It is a major doctoral and postdoctoral academic institution and carries out basic and applied research with a European and global perspective (fundamental research, comparative research and Community research) in history, law, economics, political and social sciences. The EUI offers one of the world’s largest doctoral and postdoctoral programmes in the social sciences and the largest in Europe. It is a community of around 1,000 scholars from more than 60 countries from Europe and further afield.

According to its Convention, the aim of the Institute is to contribute, by its activities in the fields of higher education and research, to the development of the cultural and scientific heritage of Europe, taking into account Europe’s cultural and linguistic pluralism and relations with cultures outside Europe. It is also a forum for the exchange and discussion of ideas and experience in subjects falling within the areas of study and research with which it is concerned. It had developed interdisciplinary research programmes on the major issues confronting contemporary European society, including matters relating to the construction of Europe. The EUI is committed to the good governance of EU policies through its academic and research activities, giving intellectual support to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy.