The Jean Monnet Chair (JMC) in European Politics aims to identify synergies and build capacity in European Studies at the University of Bristol. While the University of Bristol employs many excellent scholars engaged in teaching and research on the European Union (EU) and on European Studies, relatively little cross-departmental collaboration currently takes place. The primary aim of the project is therefore for the JMC to create a focal point for such collaboration. This will entail the creation by the JMC of a Bristol European Studies Network; and the use of this network to develop new teaching and research initiatives, both within the framework of this project and beyond it. As well as developing teaching and research capacity at Bristol, the JMC will, through the support provided, initiate new links with local policy-makers and civil servants, as well as with local civil society, schoolteachers and the general public; it will establish new contacts with national policy-makers; and will develop relationships between Bristol and the international academic community, with a particular emphasis on East Asian scholars working on Europe. The substantive focus of the project is post-crisis Europe, with a particular focus on (a) the emergence of new thinking on EU governance and EU politics since 2008; and (b) the debate on the future of the UK’s role in Europe. These themes reflect the current teaching and research interests and expertise of the applicant, whilst allowing for collaboration with scholars at Bristol in the context of the new Bristol European Studies Network.