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:

In addition to the old and still unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the conflicts that emerged in the wake of the Arab Uprisings (Libya and Syria), tensions between regional rivals in the Eastern Mediterranean and renewed bilateral tensions in the Western Mediterranean have made the security situation more uncertain amid the growing arms race in the region. At the same time, there are some positive developments in the region in terms of increased diplomatic interactions that may create conditions for progress.

In light of this situation, the Joint Study Group could:

• Update previous initiatives mapping security tensions, conflicts and geopolitical shifts in the region, and identify shifting patterns in the security architecture of the region
• Propose a foresight analysis of conflicts in the Mediterranean
• While doing so, assess the trend of digitalisation of conflicts in the region (cyber-attacks, disinformation).
• Review existing conflict prevention and conflict resolution schemes in place in the region (as well as possible regional success stories), in order to identify best practices and promising formats. This would include previous track II initiatives as well as initiatives such as the Women Mediators Network, the Morocco-Spain initiative on Mediterranean mediation, the Arab League Women Mediators Network
• Identify new opportunities for dialogue and cooperation that could be used in order to advance peace in the region, and map the potential role of actors in advancing conflict management
• The study would look both at Western Mediterranean and Eastern Mediterranean developments, with the idea to possibly connect the dots, with developments impacting the other in each sub-region.

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.