The European University Institute (EUI) launched its first Alumni Chapter in Spain on 21 September 2026. The Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) hosted the event in Madrid, as part of the EUI’s 50th anniversary celebrations. It brought together alumni and members of the wider EUI community from Spanish universities, research institutions, public authorities, policy organisations and media. Over 90 participants attended on site and 60 followed the livestream.
A “soundscape” rather than noise
Eloísa del Pino, President of CSIC, and EUI Secretary-General Armando Barucco gave the opening remarks. Barucco described the Institute’s mission with the English word “soundscape”, which he called the opposite of background noise: “the voices, the music, the harmony that is coming from society”. He said that helping researchers, institutions and policymakers attune themselves to it, rather than be deafened by noise, is central to the EUI’s vocation and to its alumni community’s role in Spain.
The social sciences and their promise
The centrepiece was a round table, The Social Sciences and Their Promise: Knowledge, Democracy and Public Life. María Jiménez-Buedo (UNED) moderated. The panel was made up of four EUI current and former members:
Méndez pointed to how much data availability has changed since her own time at the EUI, when survey data had to be requested and paid for. She warned that abundance brings its own risks: “the biggest danger… is fragmentation”. Researchers, she said, produce ever-smaller, disconnected datasets instead of investing in shared, long-term infrastructures.
Farré described a “credibility revolution” in economics, which has sharpened the discipline’s ability to distinguish correlation from causation. She noted that gender perspectives are increasingly, though still only partly, integrated into economic research, and that women remain under 30% of the profession.
Dinas pushed back against what he called an “apologetic” framing of the social sciences next to the natural sciences. Their value, he argued, lies in posing questions on racism, colonialism or inequality that other disciplines never raise.
Closa drew on his years as editor of the European Political Science Review. He cautioned that publication pressures increasingly reward “data-led research, no questions”. He said the social sciences must not become complacent and should demand more rigorous research. In his view, sophistication should not come at the price of “mining data without concern with important questions”. He added that the social sciences must not settle for marginal roles, should engage more with the life and matter sciences, and should responsibly provide scientific guidance on issues such as climate change and housing.
On research and policymaking, panellists broadly agreed that social scientists should rigorously evaluate what works and leave value-based decisions to democratic deliberation. Farré described obtaining government data to evaluate a Catalan affirmative-action research policy. She said it reduced gender gaps “without being costly in terms of efficiency”. Closa noted that, unlike disciplines with established advisory structures, the social sciences tend to engage policymakers on an individual, ad hoc basis.
“Academic freedom… [is] a democratic right”
Sébastien Huber, EUI Director of Development and External Relations, and Juan Cruz Cigudosa García, Spain’s Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, gave the closing remarks.
Huber thanked the chapter’s new coordinators in advance for the work ahead and called on alumni to act as ambassadors for the Institute. He also announced plans for alumni mentoring and thematic chapters, and said alumni will be central again at the EUI’s research festival in May 2027.
Cigudosa called the EUI “a success story”. Spain joined in 1989, he recalled, “when our democratic and scientific system was rebuilt after 40 years of dictatorship”. Around 400 PhD researchers from Spain have studied at the Institute since. He acknowledged that Spanish participation has faced difficulties. In the 2025–26 academic year, he said, Spain moved from its previous contracting system to funding Spanish EUI researchers through direct funding of the EUI. “We know that there is still room for improvement,” he said, adding: “We want to participate actively in the EUI.”
He placed the launch within a wider defence of academic freedom. “The new authoritarianism, the new illiberalism, seeks to weaken the institutions and norms upon which liberal democracies depend,” he said, arguing that threats to scientific and research institutions are part of that broader challenge. “Academic freedom and freedom of research are democratic rights,” he said. He added that such rights come with responsibilities, including supporting critical thinking and safeguarding the autonomy of universities and research institutes.
He closed by saying he believes “the EUI, together with its alumni chapters, can serve as a bulwark of an emerging European civil society and as a staunch defender of academic freedom and institutional autonomy”.
Next steps
EUI alumni María Jiménez-Buedo and Ruth Rubio Marín will coordinate the new chapter, as EUI Alumni Chair for Spain and Special Advisor respectively. They will work with the EUI Alumni Office, and further events are planned in Spain in the coming months. The chapter joins the EUI’s growing network of alumni chapters across Europe. Guests continued the conversation at a networking reception.
Get involved
Are you an EUI alumna or alumnus based in Spain, or interested in the chapter’s activities? Visit the EUI Alumni page for more information, or write to the Alumni Office at alumni@eui.eu to get involved.