All the event’s sessions take place in Iscte’s B203 Auditorium. The Auditorium is located on floor 2 of Building 2.

Thursday, 15 May 2025
9h30: Registration – 2nd Floor – Building 2, Iscte
10h00 – 10:15: Opening ceremony

  • Ana Mónica Fonseca (Director, CEI-Iscte)
  • Representative of Iscte’s Dean Office
  • Abbas Ismail, EGA Organizing Committee
10:15 – 11:30 – Panel 1: Strategic Partnerships and EU-Asia Relations

Moderator: Álvaro Rosa (Iscte)

  • Patrícia Marrafa (CEI-Iscte) & Diogo Borges (CEI-Iscte): Europe at a Crossroads: Leveraging a Global Gateway and Belt and Road connection as a response to US trade pressures
  • Tiago Botelho dos Santos (CEI-Iscte): The Global Gateway’s Eastern Push: EU-China Connectivity and the case of Kazakhstan
  • Yilin Huang (Iscte): Retrospect in China-EU Relations from 1999 to 2022: Cooperation, Competition or Conflict?
  • Guillermo Martinez de Velasco (Universidad Complutense de Madrid & IPRI): Multilateralism: Positioning and Challenges of the European Union Global Gateway Strategy in the Face of China’s Belt & Road Initiative.
11:45 – 13:00 – Panel 2: Digital Governance, Innovation & Resilience

Moderator: Tiago Lapa (CIES-Iscte)

  • Sophia Kelsch (CEI-Iscte): Extraterritorial impact of EU policies on Palestinian (digital) rights: the case of the Digital Service Act (DSA) and EU AI Act
  • Miguel Pacheco (University of Minho): The European Union’s Cybersecurity Policy and the Impacts of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine: The Case of the NIS Directive and NIS 2.0″
  • Fernando Pacheco (CIES-Iscte): Between Regulation and Global Influence: Can the EU Compete in the Digital Economy?
  • Mauro Costa Couceiro (ISTAR-Iscte): Seeds of Resilience: Cultivating Sustainable Communities with AI and Nature
13:15 – 14:30 – Break for lunch
14:30 – 15:45 – Panel 3: EU Foreign Policy and Strategic Engagements

Moderator: Guy Banim (College of Europe)

  • Abbas Ismail (CEI-Iscte): The European Union’s Role in Syria: Challenges, Effectiveness, and Strategic Implications
  • Ricardo Alexandre (IPRI-NOVA): The Western Balkans roads to EU: comparative visions from inside
  • Tin Shine Aung (University of Lisbon & SRIc): European Union’s Role in Myanmar’s Polycrisis Amid US Isolationism Under Trump 2.0
15:45 – 16:00 – Coffee break
16:00 – 17:15 – Panel 4: Maritime Security and Strategic Borders

Moderator: Pedro Seabra (CEI-Iscte)

  • Vanda Amaro Dias (University of Coimbra): The EU as a global maritime security provider: strategies and initiatives in the Red Sea
  • Rita Costa (Iscte): The EU as maritime security actor: from the Gulf of Guinea to the world

Friday, 16 May 2025
09:30 – 10:15 – Keynote speaker

Sofia Moreira de Sousa, Head of European Commission Representation to Portugal

Moderation: Ana Mónica Fonseca, CEI-Iscte Director
10:15 – 10:30 – Coffee break
10:30 – 11:45 – Panel 5: Migration, Security & Human Rights

Moderator: Inês Sousa (FEUC-CES)

  • MD Mostafa Faisal (Ahi Evran University): The European Union’s Response to the Refugee Crisis: Challenges and policies to develop Human Rights
  • Margarida Gonçalves Frango (Iscte): Militarization of Borders in the Western Balkans: Security Imperatives and Humanitarian Challenges
  • Susana de Sousa Ferreira (ICEI-UCM): The unwanted effects of a dynamic border: cracks in Fortress Europe
11:45 – 13:00 – Panel 6: Global Gateway, Development & Regional Competitiveness

Moderator: Cátia Miriam Costa (CEI-Iscte)

  • Luís António Pais Bernardo (Center for Studies on Africa and Development): Connecting Markets: Business Power, Development and the EU Global Gateway
  • Claudinei Ivair De Arruda Martins (Iscte): Addressing Human Capital Flight in Peripheral EU Economies: Rethinking Talent Retention for Sustainable Competitiveness
  • Alexandre Calado (Iscte): Resilience as a systemic prevention strategy in the current context of polycrisis
  • Francisco Láuzara Morales (Universidad Pablo de Olavide): The involution of democracy in the European periphery. The case of Tunisia as an example of the EU’s limited strategic projection
13:00 – 14:30 – Break for lunch
14:30 – 15:45 – Roundtable “Governing Migration in Europe: Between Security, Human Rights and Solidarity”

  • Susana de Sousa Ferreira (UCM / CEI-Iscte)
  • Nina Amelung (ICS-ULisboa)
  • Mariana Cordeiro (Representative from SOS Racismo)
  • Inês Sousa (FEUC-CES)
15:45 –16:00 – Coffee break
16:00 – 17:15 – Panel 7: Climate, Energy and Sustainable Transitions

Moderator: Susana Batel (CIS-Iscte)

  • Andre Gerardo (ISCAL): Leveraging Data-Driven Governance to Strengthen EU Sustainable
  • Karim Zaouaq (University of Fez): The EU’s role and position in the climate change negotiations
  • Arthur William Fodouop Kouam (Sanya University): Rethinking the EU-Africa Partnership in a Shifting Global Landscape
  • Fábio Colombo, Tiago Luís Carvalho & Carla Guapo Costa (University of Lisbon & ISCSP): Resilience through Governance: The European Union’s Global Gateway in Southern Africa

All the event’s sessions take place in Iscte’s B203 Auditorium. The Auditorium is located on floor 2 of Building 2.