Meet the team

Meet the team

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The EU Gendering team consists of senior and junior researchers, an executive officer, and valuable partnerships with Gender5+ and Euroïnes.

Currently Professor of Political Science at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, Sophie has been teaching for almost 20 years on EU policies and politics, EU institutional dynamics, gender studies, comparative social policies, and policy analysis at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD levels (USL-B, Sciences Po, University Paris Nord, Sciences Po Lille, etc.).

From a background in sociology of policy analysis, she specialises in EU and gender studies. Her research interests focus on the transformation of EU gender and anti-discrimination policies, on the Europeanization of social and gender+ equality policies, on the evolution of European social dialogue and on the influence of Eurobarometer surveys in the design of EU policymaking.

Her work has appeared in the major journals in her fields of study (20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, among which Journal of Common Market Studies, West European Politics, European Journal of Politics and Gender or Journal of European Public Policy). She has published a monograph of reference on Transformations in EU Gender Equality Policy. From Emergence to Dismantling (Palgrave, 2015), co-edited several books on the notion of Europeanization as well as a Dictionary of Policy Analysis, and written chapters on gender and the EU for handbooks such as the Elgar Companion to the European Union, the Routledge Handbook of Gender and Politics or the Routledge Handbook of European Public Policy.

Sophie was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow from 2012 to 2014 at UCLouvain. She is the co-leader of the research group on gender and politics of the Belgian Political Science Association, and a member of the Gender and Sexuality Research Network of the Council of European Studies.

Furthermore, she is associate editor of the bilingual EU studies journal Politique européenne. From 2020 to 2022, she was the principal investigator of the FNRS-funded EQUALOP project on EU gender equality policy and public opinion. Sophie has also been coordinator for USL-B of the RESTEP Erasmus+ Transatlantic network on political Europe and she has been involved as WP coordinator in several international research project such as the RECWOWE network of excellence (FP6), and the INCOOP Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Training Network. She also co-leads an ongoing interdisciplinary (philosophy, law and political science) project on “Europe’s judiciary narratives”.

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Nathalie participates to the Steering Committee and to the Board of the Chair. She supervises the EUGENDERING Prize for Best Graduate Student Research Paper. She has a key role in the research project on “Gender and the EU: between attacks and leadership”, and she also contributes to the public debates.

Nathalie is a Full Professor of Contemporary History at UCLouvain since 1999. As a Canadian citizen holding a Ph.D. from Laval University, she has been teaching 20th century history, with a focus on history of European integration and history of European overseas expansion for more than 25 years.

Her research deals with legal history in colonial context and with public/political uses of the past (history and collective memories), systematically including a gender perspective in her work. Since 2018, she analyses Europeanism through the lens of post-colonial and intersectional theories and challenges unspoken assumptions, such as universalism or civilisation, to understand stalemates of European identities and representations of the past.

As local coordinator of PDR, F.R.S.-FNRS, 2014-2018, Belgafrican Magistrates Social Networks, IAP (Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme) – Phase VII, Belgian Science Policy Office, 2012- 2017, Justice & Populations, the Belgian experience in international perspective (1795-2010), BeJust 2.0. and PIC (interdisciplinary project), University Commission for Development (CUD), 2008-2011, Valorisation de la mémoire filmée de la période coloniale: renforcement des capacités pédagogiques en sciences humaines; mise en place d’un réseau interuniversitaire sur la mémoire de l’Afrique centrale, she gained intensive management skills and scientific networks.

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Claire is a member of the Steering Committee and of the Board. She intervenes for supplementary teaching (organisation of simulation exercise and discussion of students’ policy papers, specifically on the EU feminist lobbying and NGOs) and contributes to the research activities of the Chair. She also participates in the EUGENDERING debates and helps foster dialogue between academia and NGOs.

Claire is a teaching assistant (ATER) at Versailles University (UVSQ) and a PhD candidate in History and Political Science at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles and Sorbonne-Nouvelle University (Paris). After a Master degree in European studies, she is now finishing her PhD thesis on the European Women’s Lobby and the Europeanisation of the Women’s NGOs from 1919 to nowadays.

She has been teaching for six years on gender studies, EU lobbying, political sociology, history of political ideas, sociology of organizations, political participation and research methods at bachelor’s and master’s levels in various Universities (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, Lille University, ESPOL Lille, Sorbonne Nouvelle University and Versailles University).

She has co-edited the Glossaire du féminisme, published in 2014. Her work on gender and the EU has appeared in several academic outputs (dictionaries, collective books, journals). For instance, her article entitled “Europeanisation through the European Women’s Lobby: A sociological comparison of the French and Belgian national coordinations” published in the Journal of Contemporary European Research in 2018, has received the JCER prize of the best article written by a young researcher in 2019.

Claire was also an administrator of the NGO Université des Femmes for three years, and she is still a member of its scientific council, helping to organize research studies and conferences on gender studies from a feminist perspective.

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Fanny is a member of the Steering Committee and of the Board. She participates to the EUGENDERING in-class teaching programme, especially to the elaboration of teaching material and case studies. She contributes to the organisation of the simulation exercise, participates to the jury of the Prize for Best Graduate Student Research Paper and contributes to the research activities of the Chair.

Fanny is PhD Candidate and teaching assistant at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles. She has been teaching for 5 years lectures on introduction to political science, policies and politics. From a background in political science and MENA studies (Middle Eastern Region), her research interests focus on the government of migration, hosting policies and exercise of power regarding Syrian migration to Europe, especially to Belgium. By putting into discussion the dominant perspectives dealing with migration studies, her interest focuses on exploring those experiences and analytical categories that are mostly left apart in mainstream analyses. By consequence, her research gave her an excellent knowledge in qualitative research methods and fieldwork, interviews and observation with different categories of public (migrants, refugees, civil society, policymakers, academics…). Furthermore, through her multiple research fields in Belgium and in Morocco, she has developed a special sensitivity and interest in questioning the place and space of violence and inequalities, the role of gender in conducting fieldwork as well as to the role given to gender in studying migration, politics and power.

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Jade is a member of the Board of the Chair. She participates in EU Gendering research activities especially to the elaboration of teaching material and case studies. She graduated from Sciences Po Aix and the College of Europe in Natolin. She also obtained a double degree in law at the University of Aix-Marseille. Passionate about gender studies, she is particularly interested in the Europeanisation of gender equality policies and its particular echo in Central Europe, gender mainstreaming in the EU, and neighbourhood policies and the export of gender equality as a “EU value”. Building on this particular interest, she also completed a research internship at the Prague-based French Research Centre, CEFRES.

Her first research works focused on “Advocating for women rights in the Czech Republic: the case of the International Women’s Day“,(coordinated by Mr Badalassi); “Institutionalizing the issue of online violence in the European strategy for gender equality” (coordinated by Pr Aldrin); “The relationship between Polish civil society and the European institutions regarding the attempt to harmonize the abortion legal framework” (coordinated by Pr Mink). The latter was awarded the Best Thesis Prize of the European History and Civilisation Chair of the College of Europe and would be soon published in De Europa.

Her experience on gender equality matters is also connected to her experience in DG Justice and Consumers in the Gender Equality Unit of the European Commission.

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Thérèse is the executive officer of the Chair. She participates to the Steering Committee and to the Board.

Thérèse holds a Law degree from UCLouvain. At IES UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, she assists in all aspects of management, supports the preparation of EU projects’ design and helps increase students’ involvement in and public awareness of IES UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles research activities. She is the Project Officer in charge of the POLLEN training programme (ex-Jean Monnet Module) and of the IES’s Jean Monnet Chairs and Centre of Excellence, managing organizational aspects, research dissemination and budgetary issues. Prior to joining IES UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, she worked as an administrative manager at the Hoover Chair (UCLouvain).