Thomas Conzelmann (T.)

The softening and hardening of borders (LIMES) (2020-2025) 

I am coordinator (with Sophie Vanhoonacker) of a doctoral network of 13 PhD researchers at UM, funded by the European Commission through its COFUND programme.

LIMES - Cross-border research

Beyond the carrot and the stick: What makes peer reviews among states authoritative instruments of global governance? (2013-2019)

The project focused on the authority of peer reviewing procedures among states as an increasingly widely used, yet poorly understood instrument of global governance. It looked at peer reviews in different international organisations (The UN family, the WTO, the OECD and the Council of Europe) and in different policy areas (anti-corruption, human rigths, economic and trade policies). http://peer-reviews.info

The Legal Mobilization Platform (2021-

I am a member of the Legal Mobilization Platform, coordinated by the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. The platform researches how various forms of legal mobilization and those who engage in it can be understood and strengthened, in order to address key accountability challenges at the local and global levels. 

Legal Mobilization Platform | International Institute of Social Studies | Erasmus University Rotterdam (iss.nl)

PhD Supervision

PhD candidates I am currently supervising as first promotor or as co-promotor:

• Xing Fan: The United Nations cybersecurity governance – Towards effective global rules? (FASoS, with Hylke Dijkstra) 
• Martina Kühner: Powerful numbers for effective outcomes? The role of global monitoring to foster sustainable development (FASoS, with Ron Cörvers, ICIS)
• Giuseppe Zaccaria: Who gets to live forever? The decline of international organisations in trade and finance (FASoS, with Hylke Dijkstra) 

PhD candidates who graduated under my (co-)supervision:

• Valentina Carraro: Just another brush stroke on the human rights canvas? The design and authority of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review vis‐à-vis the UN treaty bodies (graduated in October 2017, supervised with Sophie Vanhoonacker)
• Hortense Jongen: Fighting corruption the soft way? The authority of peer reviews to monitor compliance with anti-corruption standard setting instruments (graduated in September 2017, supervised with Giselle Bosse)
• Maarten Smeets: The WTO Multilateral Trading System in a Globalizing World: Challenges and Opportunities (graduated in September 2017, supervised with Peter van den Bossche).
• Oxana Slobozhan: Global governance in the management of natural resources: The case of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) (graduated in November 2014, supervised with Luc Soete).
• Anne-Claire Marangoni: Consistency or inconsistency of EU external policies? A case study on the European Commission (graduated in October 2014, supervised with Sophie Vanhoonacker)
• Johanna Hoeffken: Power to the people? Civic engagement with small-scale hydroelectric plants in India (graduated in December 2012, supervised with Wiebe E. Bijker)

I have participated in a dozen or so reading committees for PhD candidates at Maastricht University and elsewhere.

Research grants:

• ‘The Softening and Hardening of Borders’; European Commission COFUND scheme (with Sophie Vanhoonacker); € 1.400.000,-
• Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for CERiM; European Commission (with 9 other professors from Maastricht University; Principal applicants: Thomas Christiansen and Johan Adriaensen); € 147.085,-
• Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for CERiM; European Commission (with 9 other professors from Maastricht University); € 99.828,- 
• Establishment and Founding Director of the Centre for European Research in Maastricht (CERiM) ; Maastricht University (with 9 other professors from Maastricht University); € 1.019.000,-
• ‘Authority and Control in International Organizations’ (workshop grant); Universiteitsfonds Limburg/SWOL and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University; € 4.500,-
• (2014) "Reshaping Europe in a Globalising World" (Internal UM grant for the erection of the Centre for European Research in Maastricht -- CERiM; co-applicant with 8 colleagues from FASoS and the UM Faculty of Law); 1.050.000,- €
• (2013) "No Carrots, No Sticks: How do Peer Reviews among States acquire authority in Global Governance" (NWO Innovative Research Grant VIDI); 800.000,- € http://peer-reviews.info
• (2011) „Beyond the Carrot and the Stick: Peer Reviews as an Instrument of Global Governance“ (Bonus for eligible but not funded project application under the NWO Innovational Incentive Scheme); Maastricht University; 25.000,- €
• (2010) „Peer Reviews as an Instrument of Global Governance“ (workshop grant); University of Maastricht / DFG-Sonderforschungsbereich 597 (with Kerstin Martens); 9.000,- € 
• (2007) „Unternehmen als Normunternehmer“ (research project continuation grant) Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (with Helmut Breitmeier and Klaus Dieter Wolf); 121.400,- €
• (2007) „Private Self-Regulation in the European Union“ (workshop grant); European Commission / Network of Excellence CONNEX (with Anne Flohr and Sandra Schwindenhammer); 10.000,- €
• (2007) “What Future Shape for the EU? Reflections on Multi-Level Governance” (publication grant) European Commission / Network of Excellence CONNEX; 3.200,- € 
• (2006) „The Democratic Legitimacy of Soft Modes of Governance“ (workshop and publication grant); European Commission / Network of Excellence CONNEX (with Susana Borrás); 14.600,- € 
• (2005) „Unternehmen als Normunternehmer“ (research grant); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (with Helmut Breitmeier and Klaus Dieter Wolf); 202.700,- € 
• (2005) „Soft Modes of Governance and the Private Sector: The EU and the Global Level" (workshop grant); European Commission / Network of Excellence CONNEX; 15.500,- €
• (2005) „Nord und Süd im globalen Regieren – Forschungsperspektiven, Politikfelder, Akteure“ (workshop grant); ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius (with Jörg Faust); 5.000,- € 
• (2001) „Argumentieren und Verhandeln in internationalen Verhandlungssystemen“ (workshop grant); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft / Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung (MZES) (with Beate Kohler-Koch); 2.200,- DM
• (2001) „10 Jahre Regionenforschung – Was haben wir gelernt ?“ (workshop and publication grant); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft / MZES (with Michèle Knodt); 15.000,- DM 
• (1999) “The EU and its Performance in International Organizations and International Treaties” (conference travel grant); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; 2.100,- DM
• (1997): “Europeanization of National Policies? Linking the Multi-Level Governance Approach with Theories of Policy Learning and Policy Change” (conference travel grant); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; 1.850,- DM