Taking a lead in the Jean Monnet Network

IBMB Senior Lecturer, Dr Jean-Marc Troille, is the Lead Partner for the Jean Monnet Network ‘The EU, Africa and China in the Global Age’. Issues of integration and cooperation are at the core of its action. The ‘EAC’, in the project’s acronym, refers to the project’s two central agendas: the East African Community (EAC) as an example of regional economic integration; and the broader context of ‘Europe, Africa and China’.

The Jean Monnet Network is a research and training project funded by the EU Commission. It supports a unique endeavour to foster dialogue between academia and policy makers in a trilateral way between the European Union, Africa, and China with a view to building sustainable societies in Africa for the benefit of all parties. This project is at the heart of the University of Bradford’s vision on sustainability.

It promotes regional integration ‘on the ground’ and runs Training & Dialogue Sessions in EAC member states. The programme has delivered research workshops in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as high-profile conferences in Addis Ababa, Shanghai, Beijing and Brussels, bringing together academics, policy makers, diplomats, think tanks and international organisations.

 The Network’s main focus lies on studying:

• Regional economic integration in the East African Community (EAC) in a comparative perspective
• The relations between the European Union and Africa, with particular emphasis on the East African Community
• EU-Africa-China relations with emphasis on developmental economics and mutual trade and development partnerships. Attention will be devoted to the potential for an EU-China coordination to contribute to the sustainability of African economic integration, growth and development.