Doctoral School

Studying Regions: Conceptual and Methodological Approaches to Regionalism

Studying Regions: Conceptual and Methodological Approaches to Regionalism

Target audience

PhD students from social sciences background at any level of PhD 
progress

Organizing and scientific committee

Prof. Frank Mattheis,

Dra. Iana Ovsiannikova 

Course Description

Why and how do societies cooperate and integrate across national borders? Regionalism as a research framework seeks to capture these dynamics by looking at deliberate projects to create regional rules, identities and socioeconomic structures. Through these processes, regions become a crucial level between global and national governance. Regionalism approaches seek to challenge state-centric and Eurocentric notions by recognising the agency of regions independently of their member states and by acknowledging the theory and practice of regional integration beyond the singular case of the European Union.

This course aims to provide PhD students with input and reflections on how to address regions in their analytical framework. The discussed approaches provide a multi-facetted understanding of regions, be it as imagined constructs, arenas of political negotiation or as global actors in their own right. It thereby spans across various disciplines in social science and remains applicable to a wide range of policy fields, from economics to migration, from climate to security, from diplomacy to law. 

The specialist course delves into crosscutting concepts such as governance, agency and integration as well as uncovering the foundations of a critical and constructivist approach to regionalism. The course draws from empirical illustrations in different world regions and captures current trends around regional organisations as building blocks of a global order under stress. Participants will be able to connect the discussions on regionalism with their PhD projects and reflect on how such an approach can meaningfully enhance their research. 

Objectives

The course aims to equip students with knowledge of foundational concepts, epistemic approaches and theories on regionalism. This will be equally useful for PhDs studying the European Union as other world regions in order to be able to place their findings into a comparative and de-centred perspective.

The course has three overall objectives:

-            Provide an analytical understanding of regionalism as well as concepts and methods surrounding it;

-            Integrate a regionalism perspective into the doctoral research of participants;

-            Critically situate the study of regions within the broader landscape of social science theories.

 

Dates and venue

21 October-23 October 2026

Lokaal -3.2, T1, Campus Ufo

Programme

Day 1 – 21 October, 9.00-17.00
Conceptual approaches to regionalism

 
Lecture 1 : Regionalism theories: the state of play and sense-making in studying regions
Fredrik Söderbaum, University of Gothenburg

Lecture 2: What shapes the region? Constructivist approaches to regionalism 
Fredrik Söderbaum, University of Gothenburg

Lecture 3: How do memory policies shape regionalism?
Mariana Caldas, University of Erfurt

Group exercise: How to (de-)construct the region?, guided by Frank Mattheis and Iana Ovsiannikova, UNU-CRIS/Ghent University

Day 2 – 22 October, 9.00-17.00
Thematic approaches of regionalism

 
Lecture 1: Institution building and informality in African regional organisations
Ueli Staeger, University of Amsterdam

Lecture 2: Regional democracy-defense in times of autocratisation: the Americas, Africa, and Europe
Stefano Palestini, University of Trento

Lecture 3: Regionalism in times of conflict, how regions (un)cooperate in conflict situations
Maria Martin de Almagro Iniesta, Ghent University

 

Guided discussion: How to integrate a regionalism approach in PhD projects?

Day 3 – 23 October
Global approaches to regionalism

 
Lecture 1: Conceptualising the Global-Regional Governance Nexus
Philippe De Lombaerde, Director of UNU-CRIS

Lecture 2: Regional cooperation and agency in global politics
Frank Mattheis, UNU-CRIS/Ghent University

Plenary discussion: Finding links between doctoral research projects & reflecting on the limitations of regionalism approaches

Registration

  • The course is open to PhD students of all disciplines in social sciences who want to enhance their theoretical approach to understanding of the region of their study.

  • Follow  this link for the registration and waiting list. We check if you are eligible to participate. Due to limited places, we give priority to PhD students. Your registration will be confirmed by separate e-mail (outlook invite).
  • Cancellation of your registration can only be performed by sending an email to doctoralschools@ugent.be.

  • The no show policy applies.

  • For any questions, please contact: iana.ovsiannikova@ugent.be

Registration fee

The course is free of charge for students based in Flemish universities. For students from non-Flemish universities the fee is 80 EUR. In exceptional circumstances, the fee can be waived. If applicable, please include a fee waiver request in your application.

Number of participants

Maximum 15

Language

English

Training method

Lectures by renowned experts in the field, interactive exercise on how to construct and deconstruct 
regions and a pitch of a PhD project with a regionalism approach

Evaluation method

After successful participation, the Doctoral School Office will add this course to your curriculum of the Doctoral Training Programme in Oasis. Please note that this can take up to one to two months after completion of the course.