As part of the project EuroMeSCo: Connecting the Dots, co-funded by the European Union and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), we are opening calls for researchers to take part in five different Joint Study Groups.

The EuroMeSCo Joint Study Groups 2022 will be made up of four Authors, including a Coordinator, who will jointly produce a Policy Study over a period of 6-7 months. Interested researchers may apply as Author or as Author and Coordinator to each Joint Study Group. In both cases, they will have to complete the online form and submit their application by 18 May (included).

Here is a brief description of the rationale of this Joint Study Group:

Integrating Euro-Mediterranean Green Hydrogen Markets: a Choice or a Necessity?

There is little doubt that the share of hydrogen in EU’s future energy mix will grow significantly. Such a trend is also likely to characterise other energy markets, including in EU’s southern neighbourhood. Over the last years, governments and businesses alike have increasingly invested in hydrogen production. The EU adopted its hydrogen strategy in July 2020. Some countries have adopted similar strategies, both in the EU and in EU’s Southern Neighbourhood.

Despite references to the importance of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation for the future of hydrogen markets in various policy strategies, a recent UfM energy Ministerial, and growing literature on this issue, there are still many uncertainties regarding the scale of this cooperation and the degree of interdependence. To what extent is the Euro-Mediterranean dimension a defining element of today’s strategic planning and decisions, from both governments and businesses?

The Joint Study Group could:

• Review existing hydrogen strategies or policy documents of the EU, EU member states and Southern Neighbourhood countries, as well as recent major investments in this sector, in order to identify how the Euro-Mediterranean dimension is shaping those strategies and decisions
• Investigate to what extent both shores of the Mediterranean are likely to be interdependent in terms of hydrogen production and exploitation (including in terms of investments and imports/exports)
• As a follow-up to recent studies (including Escribano, 2021), identify the geopolitical and geoeconomics obstacles to Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, ranging from the impact of EU’s own uncertainties and different interests of its member states to issues of governance in EU’s southern neighbourhood countries
• Formulate policy recommendations with the objective to elaborate a roadmap for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation on hydrogen

You may apply to more than one Joint Study Group but may eventually only be selected to join one of them.

See the EuroMeSCo Joint Study Groups 2022 Terms of Reference for more information.