University of South Wales (USW) is collaborating on an international research project, managed by Örebro University, which has secured £360,000 in funding from the prestigious Swedish Research Council.
From University of Southern Denmark, Jacob Öberg, Professor in EU Law and principal investigator of the project, will be working alongside USW’s Christian Kaunert and Sarah Leonard, Professors in International Security.
Professor Öberg said:
“Our project seeks to test the hypothesis that the European area of Freedom, Security and Justice has been subject to a transformation from an intergovernmental, member-state controlled policy field to a more supranational policy, where EU institutions have gained powers and influence over time.
“The project’s interdisciplinary set-up, from both a legal and international relations/politics perspective, is fairly original and also a contributing factor for the project obtaining this generous funding.”
Professor Leonard said:
“Our three-year study will investigate to what extent the EU has authority over member states’ internal security. This is a very sensitive matter for member states because it goes to the heart of national sovereignty and national identity.
“The project will closely investigate development of three areas of policy – asylum migration, criminal justice, and policing and security, analysing and explaining the emerging trends.”
Professor Kaunert said:
“We are delighted to have secured this large amount of funding from Sweden’s largest governmental research funding body that supports research of the highest quality in all scientific fields. It is quite rare that they award funding to a UK university.”
