You might think that after 2020 we have all read enough articles on mental health and self-care. This might be true, however, we think there can’t be enough reminders out there coming from different perspectives. 2020 showed us how important it is to find balance in our everyday lives but also how different it might […]

As I write this message the deadline for the Brexit talks have been extended once again and we still do not know what the full implications will be for our association and the wider academic community.

UACES Annual Conference 2020 brought our research group a mixture of excitement and poignancy. We are enormously grateful to the UACES team for their phenomenal work in organising and hosting a superb event, which was not only highly intellectually stimulating but which was also a tour de force of smooth and highly effective e-learning.

Spending some time in Brussels is always an invaluable opportunity for any EU researcher. I first arrived at KU Leuven on January 6th, 2020, a little over a month since the new von der Leyen Commission took office. At the time, COVID19 was only news in China and Western mainstream media was preoccupied with issues such as the coming into effect of Brexit on January 31st and the potential implications of the Soleimani incident between the US and Iran. Those were the days.

Dear UACES Colleagues, I hope you are well and that you have had the opportunity to spend some time away from your computer screens and to recharge the batteries over the summer months.

Six months ago back in early January, my fellow UACES Officers and I posted the message below on our website addressing our concerns about the prospects of the UK not remaining part of the Erasmus+ programme post Brexit:

A few months ago, I was having a WhatsApp chat with my 3 best friends. They are all incredibly talented women – one is a partner in a law firm, another an award-winning science journalist and author, another a charity policy director. Intimidating or what? The conversation was about the organisations they’ve worked for and the value of moving between different companies. One of my friends said ‘[it’s] amazing how easily you can think your organisation’s way of doing something is the best or most productive until you experience different workplaces’.