The Euro Crisis, the Other Crisis and the Need for Global Thinking

In addition to the euro crisis the EU faces a second, more existential crisis, in the form of an ill-defined notion of the Union’s global role. This contribution argues that the euro crisis should not redefine perceptions of the EU on the global stage, which it is in danger of doing. Instead, the EU and its members should embark upon a strategic reassessment in order to define three core interrelated factors. First, the nature of the EU’s actorness remains ill-defined and it is therefore necessary to explain, both within and beyond the Union, what its global role is. Second, in order to facilitate the joining up of the myriad of sub-strategies in EU external relations, the notion of ‘red lines’ should be considered which define specific aspects of behaviour that are mainstreamed throughout the EU’s external actions and, more importantly, upheld. Third, in spite of the rapid development of the harder elements of the EU’s actorness over the last decade or so, there remains a worrying gap between rhetoric and reality. This aspect is of particular concern for the United States and will affect perceptions of the EU’s ability to be a genuine strategic partner at a time of dramatic change in the international system. By engaging in what will inevitably be a difficult debate, the EU and its members will not only help give purpose and strategic direction to the Union’s actions on the international scene, it will also speak to the euro crisis since both are fundamentally about the future shape and direction of European integration

Now We Are One...A Rough Start for the EEAS

The first year of the European External Action Service (EEAS) has already elicited much comment, both internally and externally. This contribution briefly reviews the nature of this commentary and then suggests some possible short-term ‘wins’ for the Service, as well as some challenges that will require a longer-term perspective. The main shorter-term issue considers the need to create stronger linkages and priorities between existing strategies and to start the difficult process of melding a common mindset within the Service. The longer-term challenges revolve around recruitment, balance and resources. The latter is particularly important in order to enable the delegations to assume their full roles. The barrage of criticism that greeted the EEAS’s first birthday is also a commentary on how critical the role of the Service is to achieving the core goals of the Lisbon Treaty in external relations; namely, to aim towards more coherence, effectiveness and visibility

Consistency as an Issue in EU External Activities. EIPA Working Paper 99/W/06

[From the Introduction]. The European Community (EC) was initially only competent in the area of trade and gradually developed a common commercial policy. The 1970s onwards saw increasing foreign policy co-operation in the framework of European Political Co-operation (EPC). Over the next two decades the increasing number of external activities of the Union highlighted the need for consistency between the EC’s external competencies conducted in the context of the first pillar and the intergovernmental ones of the second pillar and, to an growing extent, the third pillar. By the late 1990s the European Union (EU) accounted for a greater percentage of global gross national product than the U.S. and Japan. The EU also contributes more to the UN budget and peacekeeping operations than either the U.S. or Japan. Given the enormous importance of the EU as a global actor and its potential to play an even more influential role, it is not difficult to see why concerns of consistency in the EU’s external activities are legitimate. Consistency has become something of a refrain. Most recently the consolidated Treaty on European Union (CTEU) states that, 'The Union shall be served by a single institutional framework which shall ensure the consistency and the continuity of the activities carried out in order to attain its objectives while respecting and building upon the acquis communautaire.' [CTEU, 1997, Article 3] To this end, it is to the Union generally that the task of ensuring 'consistency in its external activities as a whole in the context of external relations, security, economic and development policies' falls. The Council and Commission are though charged with particular responsibility in this regard. The objective of achieving consistency in the Union’s external activities is to ensure that the Union can 'assert its identity on the international scheme.' [CTEU, 1997, Article 2] In support of the general theme of consistency the European Council identified the aim of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as being to enable the Union to speak with one voice. The same theme is returned to within the CFSP mechanisms, both directly but also indirectly through reference to 'common positions,' 'joint decisions,' 'joint actions,' and, most recently, 'common strategies.

European defence architecture : institutional developments

A Arquitetura de Defesa Europeia: Desenvolvimentos Institucionais O artigo analisa o processo de institucionalização da defesa europeia enfatizando a componente civil do sistema de gestão de crises da União Europeia, complementado por sinergias geradas entre instrumentos civis e militares. Esta circunstância molda o atual sistema de governação europeu e influenciará o futuro da arquitetura de defesa europeia. A este nível, questões de coerência e eficácia requerem uma supervisão institucional, dentro da União e entre esta e a NATO, plano no qual se verifica uma limitada sobreposição institucional. O autor constata que as iniciativas recentes no domínio da defesa, pese embora não tenham até à data alterado a arquitetura institucional da UE, poderão no futuro influenciar as relações dentro e entre instituições europeias, nomeadamente através dos projetos no quadro da Cooperação Estruturada Permanente. Estes poderão gerar um comportamento mais consistente entre acordo político e participação efetiva, por parte dos Estados Membros, sem esquecer que a defesa europeia terá que coexistir com as responsabilidades dos Estados Europeus, que são também membros da NATO. A cooperação no domínio da defesa europeia não veio acrescentar novas competências às instituições europeias, mas a disponibilidade de novos recursos financeiros poderá vir a ativar disposições do Tratado de Lisboa e facultar o incentivo para um envolvimento mais sistemático no desenvolvimento da PESC e da PCSD.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Learning to cooperate after Lisbon: Inter-institutional dimensions of the EEAS

La creación del Servicio Europeo de Acción Exterior (SEAE) plantea la posibilidad de que las tensiones registradas, antes del Tratado de Lisboa, entre las diversas instituciones de la Unión Europea sobre la conexión entre relaciones exteriores y PESC, puedan afectar de manera adversa su puesta en acción desde el primer momento. Sin embargo, tanto la Comisión, como la Secretaría General del Consejo, y los propios Estados miembros se han empleado a fondo en la creación del SEAE asumiendo importantes cambios por lo que se hallan vinculados inevitablemente a su eventual éxito o fracaso. Consecuentemente, el artículo sugiere, dadas las circunstancias, la necesidad de un nuevo aprendizaje institucional que pueda servir tanto al fortalecimiento de la relaciones exteriores de la Unión como a la mejora de la coherencia de su acción exterior. Publicación en línea: 15 abril 201

Assessing and teaching radiotherapy contouring

Advanced radiotherapy techniques such as image-guided adaptive brachytherapy for cervical cancer improve local tumour control and reduce treatment toxicity. This benefit is critically dependent on radiotherapy targeting or “contouring” by oncologists. Numerous studies have shown considerable inter-observer contouring variation across all tumour sites, often measured in centimetres, suggesting that current methods of teaching contouring are ineffective. Moreover, assessing contouring competency is currently a subjective, time-consuming and onerous process. The aim of this programme of research is to investigate the assessment and teaching of radiotherapy contouring within an educational design research framework. The thesis reviews the limitations and challenges of current strategies to improve radiotherapy contouring and how insights from the educational literature such as cognitive load theory, deliberate practice theory, and best practices in assessment and feedback can inform and improve contouring assessment and teaching. Real-world data from two studies of online assessment and education for radiotherapy contouring, within an international clinical trial of advanced radiotherapy techniques for locally advanced cervical cancer, were analysed to substantiate the limitations of current approaches within a clinical trial setting. The thesis describes a novel low-fidelity radiotherapy contouring simulation tool developed to address some of the issues identified in the clinical studies. A detailed useability study was carried out in a small group of oncologists, which also yielded interesting insights into their clinical reasoning and self-regulation processes. The simulation was then used in three pilot studies of different types of learners (trainees and experts) and programmes (one-off workshops and longitudinal programmes) to explore its acceptability, useability and effectiveness. The thesis concludes by discussing possible approaches for the next iteration of software development and educational research, which could lead to meaningful change in the teaching and assessment of radiotherapy contouring

Lessons for museums from the pandemic lockdown: exploring user engagement with art museums in London on Facebook

Due to the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions, such as museums, had been required to close so as to reduce non-essential human mobility. The dilemma of maintaining a consistent relationship with museums’ users emerged. What are the digital initiatives that museums had developed? How did user engagement change during the lockdown? Most importantly, what can be learnt from these practices for developing more effective engagement strategies after the pandemic? With basic statistical analysis and content analysis as the main research methods, this study examines how London art museums used Facebook during lockdown and the changes of corresponding user engagement behaviours. Specifically, three London-based art museums are chosen for this study, which are the National Gallery, Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). The results show that, during the period of lockdown, all three museums adjust their Facebook strategies in terms of both post type and content. The increase in the level of user engagement also suggests the effectiveness of some strategies, such as the frequency of museum posts and creation of different types of post content. These findings give reflections on art museums’ digital initiatives and contributed to the understanding of the museum online users

Exploring international collaboration and language dynamics in Digital Humanities: insights from co-authorship networks in canonical journals

Purpose: This paper presents a follow-on study that quantifies geolingual markers and their apparent connection with authorship collaboration patterns in canonical Digital Humanities (DH) journals. In particular, it seeks to detect patterns in authors' countries of work and languages in co-authorship networks. // Design/methodology/approach: Through an in-depth co-authorship network analysis, this study analysed bibliometric data from three canonical DH journals over a range of 52 years (1966–2017). The results are presented as visualised networks with centrality calculations. // Findings: The results suggest that while DH scholars may not collaborate as frequently as those in other disciplines, when they do so their collaborations tend to be more international than in many Science and Engineering, and Social Sciences disciplines. DH authors in some countries (e.g. Spain, Finland, Australia, Canada, and the UK) have the highest international co-author rates, while others have high national co-author rates but low international rates (e.g. Japan, the USA, and France). // Originality/value: This study is the first DH co-authorship network study that explores the apparent connection between language and collaboration patterns in DH. It contributes to ongoing debates about diversity, representation, and multilingualism in DH and academic publishing more widely

Gender influences in Digital Humanities co-authorship networks

PURPOSE: This paper presents a co-authorship study of authors who published in Digital Humanities journals and examines the apparent influence of gender, or more specifically, the quantitatively detectable influence of gender in the networks they form. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This study applied co-authorship network analysis. Data has been collected from three canonical Digital Humanities journals over 52 years (1966–2017) and analysed. FINDINGS: The results are presented as visualised networks and suggest that female scholars in Digital Humanities play more central roles and act as the main bridges of collaborative networks even though overall female authors are fewer in number than male authors in the network. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This is the first co-authorship network study in Digital Humanities to examine the role that gender appears to play in these co-authorship networks using statistical analysis and visualisation