MSEUCA Research Groups

Our projects bring together groups of senior and junior scholars to work on joint strategies promoting issues of common concern to citizens in Canada and Europe. These thematically organized groups form the core for our network of scholars that have collaborated in the past through a Canada-EU Transatlantic Dialogue Partnership grant. By promoting thematically defined research groups on issues relevant to Canada and the EU, we hope to stimulate multi-disciplinary and cross-regional research collaboration. In addition our projects support public outreach by making the expertise of EU scholars more effectively available to media and policy makers across the country.

This research group incorporates multi-disciplinary approaches to elaborating the study of contemporary environmental and sustainable governance in issue areas including: the integration of economic, social and environmental decision-making; the science/policy linkage; the involvement of stakeholders and the public; and the challenge of multi-level governance. With the growing urgency posed by environmental degradation and climate change as well as with a view to ‘Strategic Partnership Agreement’, this group has explored the significant potential that Canada and the EU have to expand their cooperation on environmental and sustainability problems. Forms of transatlantic cooperation and exchange include among others: the energy/climate change linkage, chemicals policy, and Arctic and protected areas. This research group has primarily networked around key funded research and outreach projects on environmental governance that are supported by other Jean Monnet projects and SSHRC-funded projects. Most prominently, this research group pursued collaborative initiatives associated with the following research projects in the field of the environment and climate change:

• One initiative is headed by Carleton University and its Jean Monnet Network on EU-Canada Relations: One of the main research themes is “The Interface between Climate Change and Energy Policy”, which considers the context of Canada’s recent more assertive approach to realizing global climate change targets and possibilities for coordination with the EU’s long-standing commitments. This theme addresses concrete policy instruments related to the transition to a low-carbon economy, emissions trading schemes, and challenges of a multilevel governance context. The following is a list of involved academicians (Module 3 Climate Change and energy policy.

• Our EUCAnet expert Prof. Kurt Huebner at the University of British Columbia has led a project focusing on National Pathways to Low Carbon Emission Economies: Innovation Policies for Decarbonizing and Unlocking . This project looks at national economy’s established institutional settings in whose context technological and socio-political innovation set the agenda for leading the way to low carbon economies.

• The Jean Monnet European Union Centre of Excellence (JMEUCE) at Dalhousie University also conducted research projects in environmental issues. Examined Research Topics are “Energy Security and Environmental Policy in the EU and Canada” and “EU-Canadian Approaches to Offshore Renewable Energy”.