The debate among scholars, politicians and the public about the future of the European Union will be brought into sharper focus thanks to a major award won by a University of Bristol academic.

The European Union has granted Panos Koutrakos, Professor of European Union Law at the University, a Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law. It is worth € 45,000 over a three-year period and the University itself will add more. Only one other such award was made in the UK this year.

The award will fund a range of research and teaching activities, including conferences, publications and public lectures.

The Head of the University’s School of Law, Professor Keith Stanton, said: ‘The School is very pleased that Professor Koutrakos has been awarded the prestigious Jean Monnet Chair. It is recognition of the leading role that he is playing in EU law scholarship. The award will give Professor Koutrakos resources to develop and expand the School's teaching and research in this field. We hope it will also permit him to further our links with other institutions working in this area of study.’

Professor Koutrakos is a specialist in EU external relations and has published, taught and lectured widely on the subject, both in Europe and the United States. Shaped by the interaction between law, politics and economics, this topic is at the core of the current debate about the development and future of the Union.

Thanks to the EU award, Professor Koutrakos will be able to strengthen the study of this this fast-changing area of law through new forms of multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional analysis.

The Jean Monnet Chair will consolidate the position of the University of Bristol’s School of Law as a leading centre not only for research but also for teaching in the area of European law. Students, both at an undergraduate and postgraduate level, already benefit from a wide range of cutting-edge courses, covering subjects as diverse as EU constitutional, trade, labour, external relations and human rights law. The award of the Jean Monnet Chair will expose students to innovative ways of teaching, familiarising them with the application, as well as the principles, of European law. It will also enable them to meet and hear the views of prominent figures who have shaped the formation and development of the EU.

In addition, the activities organised under the aegis of the Jean Monnet Chair will benefit the wider community in South West England. By organising public lectures by prominent speakers, making their content available on its website and liaising with non-governmental organisations, the School of Law will seek to shape and open up to civil society an informed debate about Europe.

The award of the Jean Monnet Chair to Professor Koutrakos will enable Bristol’s School of Law to become a forum for innovative and wide-ranging teaching, advanced and multi-disciplinary research and dynamic, on-going debate on the EU. As they will all blend in a coherent whole, these activities will be valuable to students, scholars and the wider public.