Chairman Étienne Davignon Location Brussels, Belgium | Director Marc Otte Website egmontinstitute.be | |
Established 1947; 70 years ago (1947) Focus Public Policy Think Tank | ||
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations, also known as the Egmont Institute, is an independent and non-profit Brussels-based think tank dedicated to interdisciplinary research on international relations. The main activities of the Egmont Institute include research, the organisation of events, and training for civil servants. The Institute is associated to the Foreign Ministry of Belgium, from which it receives a substantial part of its funding. The Egmont Institute furthermore receives funding from EU Institutions, membership fees and private partners.
Contents
History
In 1947, the Royal Institute for International Relations (the Institute’s original name) was founded by a number of distinguished Belgian politicians. Among these Belgian figures were political leaders such as Paul van Zeeland, former Prime Minister; Prof. Charles de Visscher, member of the International Court of Justice; Prof. Fernand Dehousse, member of the Belgian delegation to the Conference of San Francisco; and Prof. Henri Rolin, Senator and Barrister-at-law. In 2006, in the run up to its sixtieth anniversary, the Institute changed its name to “EGMONT – The Royal Institute for International Relations” referring to the Egmont Palace, where many of its events are held.
Structure of the organisation
The Egmont Institute is governed by the Board of Directors. The current President is Viscount Étienne Davignon, former Vice-President of the European Commission. Vice-President of the Egmont Institute is Dirk Achten, Permanent Secretary of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Other members of the Board of Directors include prominent Belgian politicians, honorary ambassadors, public officials and academics. The director general is the former ambassador Marc Otte.
Research
Policy research is a core activity of the Egmont institute. The research takes place within the framework of three research programmes: European Affairs (dealing with European integration), Europe in the world (dealing with Europe’s role in international relations) and Africa (focusing mostly on Sub-Saharan and Central Africa).
Training
Training sessions are held on issues such as the functioning of the European Union, civil crisis management, security and diplomacy. These sessions are often organised in cooperation with third parties, such as the Belgian Federal Public Services, the European Institutions and Wallonia Brussels International.
Events
The Egmont Institute organizes various events, mostly in Brussels. According to the Institute, its events aim to foster dialogue between researchers, policy-makers and civil society. The Egmont Institute furthermore serves as a forum for visiting heads of state or government, representatives of international organizations and foreign ministers.
Partnerships
The Egmont Institute takes part in numerous projects and networks, in collaboration with other research centers. It is a lead partner in the European Strategic Partnerships Observatory and l’Observatoire de l'Afrique.
The Egmont Institute is also a member of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), the Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission (EuroMeSCo), the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN), Think Global – Act European (TGAE), the Brussels Think Tank Dialogue (BTTD), Europe-Africa Policy Research Network (EARN), and Expertise for Central Africa (E-CA). The institute regularly collaborates with the Belgian Royal High Institute for Defence.
In 2012, the Egmont Institute and the European Defence Agency launched the PhD Prize in European Defence, Security and Strategy.
Impact
The Egmont Institute is featured in several categories of the University of Pennsylvania’s “2013 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report”. The Egmont Institute was ranked the 83rd top non-US think tank worldwide, 30th think tank in Western Europe and 30th think tank in Top Foreign Policy and International Affairs.