EUCE York and the Centre for Refugee Studies present a lecture by Prof. Galya Ruffer (Director of the Center for Forced Migration Studies at Northwestern University) entitled "Between Testimony and Bearing Witness: Sexual and Gender Based Violence and the EU Asylum Process." The talk will be held on Tuesday, March 20th, in room 280N York Lanes (building #24 on the map found here) from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. Through a comparative analysis of witness and expert testimony in ...

This year's final lecture in the series “Whose (De)Fault is it Anyway? – The EU Crisis in Historical and Comparative Perspective” was given by Prof. George Ross (ad personam Chaire Jean Monnet and Visitng Professor of Political Science at the Université de Montréal) on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The lecture was entitled"The Eurozone Crisis: To what degree are E.U. institutions and power relations to blame?" and it is available in streaming audio at the following link: http://media.yorku.ca:8080/faculty/ccges/Ross%20lecture.mp3

Paul Axelrod, a professor in York's Faculty of Education, will be convening an international conference entitled "Policy Formation in Post-Secondary Education: Issues and Prospects in Turbulent Times" on March 15-17, 2012 at the Novotel North York. Several of the papers to be presented here will deal with matters pertaining to education in the European Union including: "The EU Innovation Strategy: Challenges for Higher Education in Europe" (Frans Van Vught and Harry Deboer, University of Twente) - 10:30 am - Saturday, March 17th and "The Bologna Process: A European Process Leading to Global Convergence" (Chuo-Chun Hsieh and Jeroen Huisman, University of ...

Prof. Nikos Skoutaris (Assistant Professor, International and European Law, Maastricht University), a EUCE Visiting Scholar will deliver lecture entitled "Accomodating the Cyprus issue in the European Union's political and legal order" on Wednesday, March 7th from 12:30 to 2:00 pm in room 305 York Lanes (building #24 on the map found here). Abstract: Despite the partial normalisation of the relations between the two ethno-religious segments on the island, Cyprus’ accession to the EU neither meant its reunification nor the restoration of the human rights or the complete lift of the political and economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriot ...

As negotiations between Canada and the European Union for a comprehensive trade and economic agreement (CETA) enter what may well be a decisive phase, the European Union Centre of Excellence at York has partnered with the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Toronto (EUCOCIT) to organize a one-day seminar on CETA for Wednesday, February 29th (10am - 5pm) at the Ontario Investment & Trade Centre (250 Yonge St., 35th Floor). This event will bring together key players in the negotiations, academics and representatives of a variety of stakeholder groups including labour, agriculture and industry for a day of panel presentations ...

On March 2^nd, 2012, York University’s European Union Center of Excellence will be holding its third annual Graduate Student Conference at its Glendon Campus in Toronto, Ontario. This year’s theme will be “European Union: Instances of Cooperation and Discord/ Union Européenne: entre coopération et désaccord”. The purpose is to showcase graduate student work and promote debate on topics relating to the European Union. This bilingual conference is organized by York graduate students and faculty and aims to include contributions from graduate students in various disciplines such as law, political science, public & international affairs, gender studies, economics, public administration, geography, ...

The European Union Centre of Excellence at York is pleased to present a lecture by Nikos Skoutaris (Assistant Professor, International and European Law, Maastricht University) entitled "Federalism: The European Union's Uncommon Principle". The talk will be held on Tuesday, March 6th, in Leith Room (004), Atkinson College (building #33 on the map found here) from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. An abstract for this lecture is found here. Nikos obtained his LL.B. from the University of Aberdeen, his LL.M. from Maastricht University and his Ph.D. from the European University Institute (Florence). He has worked at Amnesty International, the Council of the ...

Stefan Kok of the Legal Commission of Ontario (formerly Senior Policy Officer, Dutch Council for Refugees) will speak at York's Keele campus on Thursday, February 16, 2012 from 12:30 to 2:00 in room 519 York Research Tower (building #95 on the map found here). Subject of his lecture will be "Europe's Borders and Refugee Protection". Abstract: European border management raises many humanitarian and human rights concerns.  In 2011, almost 2000 people died in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe.  Detention practices, asylum standards and return practices at the EU’s external borders have been widely criticized.  Yet, ...

The European Union Centre of Excellence at York presented a lecture by Dr. Rosa Fernández (Applied Economics, Distance Education University of Spain) on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility practices and regulation in Europe, entitled "The Uneven Progress of CSR Practices in Europe: A Window for Public Intervention?" on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. In this talk, Dr. Fernández gave an overview of CSR practices in a number of European countries and considered the possibility of public intervention to regulate CSR strategies. To listen to ...

EUCE York Co-Director Prof. Peer Zumbansen is convening the international workshop "Transnational Private Regulatory Governance: Regimes, Dialogue, Constitutionalization" for March 1-2, 2012. This workshop is being presented under the auspices of the Comparative Research in Law & Political Economy Network based at York's Osgoode Hall Law School and will bring together scholars based in Canada, the United States and Europe and from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. At present, the workshop program is being finalized and will be posted once it is complete.