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Working group

Ponte Europa

We organize public debates, conferences, roundtables and other forms of deliberative experiences with citizens, local associations, schools and others on the challenges facing the EU (democracy, environment, gender equality, human rights, migration, social policy, etc.). Formerly titled Engaged Academics, this Working Group aims to build bridges between the EUI and civil society.

Ponte Europa aims to ‘open the doors’ of the European University Institute and connect the EUI with civil society at large. Too often, civil society and academia are considered distant worlds that might not speak the same language and are, therefore, not intelligible to one another. We believe that this can and should be changed. Our initiative pursues the twofold objective of making civil society benefit from the skills and knowledge of EUI researchers and providing young, engaged academics – from every department – with a ‘civil society perspective’ on their research topics.

In practice, the purpose of our initiative is to organize public debates, conferences, roundtables and other forms of deliberative/participatory experiences with citizens, local associations, schools and other institutions on the current challenges of the EU: democracy, environment, gender equality, human rights, migration, social policy, etc. For now, we work ‘locally’, but this will not prevent our WG from going beyond Tuscany or Italy in the future.

Ponte Europa and its predecessor WG, Engaged Academics, are thankful for the generous support of Prof. Federico Romero (History Department).

Events in Academic Year 2025-2026

  • EU got this – A State of the Union deep dive (10.09.2025)
  • Aperitivo with experts on Tuscan elections (28.10.2025)
  • Filosofia delle migrazioni:
  • in Reggello library (12.11.2025)
  • in San Casciano library (27.11.2025)
  • EU Talks 2026 – ValEUs project (annual event; roundtables with EUI researchers as coordinators ran throughout March, closing event on 16.04.2026) 
  • Events in Academic Year 2024-2025
  • European Dialogues: event organized by Le Discipline with EUI researchers and staff as participants
  • Documenti prego! Diritti e cittadinanza tra Italia e Europa (14.11.2024)
  • Ma siamo tutti matti? Europa, giovani e salute mentale (28.11.2024)
  • Ma chi ce lo fa fare? Partecipazione giovanile e opportunità in Europa (12.12.2024)
  • “Rising tides: big tech, populism and freedom of speech”: panel discussion in the framework of the Democratic Odyssey (21.02.2025)
  • EU Talks 2025 (annual event; roundtables with EUI researchers as coordinators ran throughout March, closing event on 29.04.2025) 
  • What are EU? Le domande dei giovani agli europarlamentari tra disinformazione, autocrazie e la difesa della pace (16.05.2025)

Events in Academic Year 2023-2024

  • EU Talks (annual event; roundtables with EUI researchers as coordinators ran throughout the month of March, closing event on 11.04.24)
  • Panel “Making visible the Invisible” in the context of the ‘Eredità delle Donne’ festival (24.11.23)
  • State of the Union – Participation in the Scientific Committee (whole academic year) and researcher-led panel (24.05.24)
  • School project ‘Young European Citizens – Giovani Cittadini d’Europa’, together with HAEU (whole academic year)
  • Prime Minister Firenze – political education school for girls and young women (Saturdays, every two to four weeks, from January until June: 20.01.24, 03.02.24, 24.02.24, 23.03.24, 06.04.24, 20.04.24, 11.05.24, 25.05.24, 15.06.24)
  • “What do EU think?” MEP debate co-organised with Europe Direct and UniFi (15.03.24)
  • Spitzenkandidaten debate watch party in Fiasco (29.04.24)