EuroMeSCo is now opening calls for researchers to take part in the next edition of Joint Study Groups.

The EuroMeSCo Joint Study Groups 2026 will be made up of four Authors, including a Coordinator, who will jointly produce a Policy Study over a period of 6-7 months. Interested researchers may apply as Author or as Author and Coordinator to each Joint Study Group. In both cases, they will have to complete the online form and submit their application by Sunday 11 January 2026, 23:59 CET.

Here is a brief description of the rationale of this Joint Study Group:

The return of Syria to the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation arena

More than a decade after the 2011 uprisings and the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, which brought an end to more than fifty years of family rule and over thirteen years of civil war, Syria and its Levantine neighbourhood are navigating a fragile post-war phase with an expanding but fragile civic space and significant governance vacuums. The end of large-scale hostilities and the emergence of new authorities have opened political and diplomatic space, yet destruction, displacement, economic collapse and governance vacuums remain acute. Humanitarian needs are still very high, violence persists in some areas, and large numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons are only gradually returning. In this context, the regional impacts of the Syrian war, on neighbouring countries’ economies, public services, social cohesion and political stability, continue to be significant.

The European Union and its Southern partners are deeply involved as donors to refugees and host communities, as supporters of UN-led processes and transitional arrangements, and as key partners for countries in the region. The sanctions regimes and the previous “no-normalisation” policy towards the former Syrian authorities have gradually given way to a process of normalisation with the new Syrian leadership, including partial easing of restrictions and high-level political engagement. At the same time, debates on the terms, sequencing and conditionality of this normalisation, and on how to balance reconstruction, early recovery and accountability, have gained renewed urgency. This raises fundamental questions for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation: how to move from a permanent emergency mindset to more sustainable forms of recovery and institution-building; how to support returns, local economies and basic services without entrenching new forms of exclusion or war economies; and how to reconnect Syria and its neighbourhood to broader regional frameworks in areas such as energy, connectivity, trade and mobility.

For the purposes of this Joint Policy Study, the focus is on the Syrian war’s aftermath in Syria and its Levantine neighbourhood, understood in an open way to include Syria and neighbouring countries most affected by the conflict and its spill-overs. This Joint Policy Study could elaborate on:

• How the humanitarian–development–peace (HDP) nexus is being interpreted and implemented in post-war Syria and neighbouring countries (for example in refugee-hosting areas, specific localities inside Syria or cross-border settings), and where the main gaps, contradictions and good practices lie.

• The dilemmas around early recovery, reconstruction and the redesign of sanctions and conditionality in a context of accelerating, but still contested, normalisation with the new Syrian authorities, including how projects on basic services, infrastructure, livelihoods and local governance are conceived and implemented, and what this implies for the EU and Southern partners.

• The socio-economic and governance impacts of the Syrian war’s aftermath on neighbouring societies, including effects on host communities, public services, social cohesion, youth and gender equality, and how these dynamics influence domestic politics and regional alignments.

• The potential and limits of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in areas such as energy, connectivity, trade, labour mobility and local economic development in and around the Levant, and how such initiatives can be made more conflict-sensitive, inclusive and supportive of accountable institutions.

Mobility

• Options to recalibrate EU and Euro-Mediterranean tools, partnerships and conditionalities so that engagement with post-war Syria and its neighbourhood supports a more sustainable transition from emergency to recovery, while contributing to long-term peace and regional stability, including through instruments such as the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (Madad) and bilateral cooperation frameworks.

Proposals may focus on one or several specific contexts in Syria and its Levantine neighbourhood, or adopt cross-cutting and comparative perspectives, and are welcome from a variety of disciplinary and methodological approaches.

See the EuroMeSCo Joint Study Groups 2026 Terms of Reference for more information.