Project Archetypes of the European Research Area: Exploring the Occasional Engagement Patterns of the European Southern Neighbourhood

This paper examines the project-based pattern of European Southern Neighbourhood engagement in the European Research Area. Thereby, this study informs about the role of the European Research Area in advancing EU objectives and ambitions in the enduringly salient European Neighbourhood Policy context. The research question that drives this study is: What project archetypes’ pattern denotes the European Southern Neighbourhood’s participation in the pan-European space intended to facilitate the free flow of talent and ideas? The guiding hypothesis anticipates that the prevailing archetype corresponds to an encounter lasting for one project, and prolonged engagement throughout several consecutive projects is a rarity. This enquiry into the relationality weaved by research collaboration formulates four archetypes. The main empirical material employed to model and study the four archetypes is semi-structured interviews with Europe-based project managers. Insights offered by the leading figures of projects funded by Framework Programme 7 and Horizon 2020 reveal how multilateral research-driven ties contribute to post-Westphalian external action aspirations. Devised analytic narratives attest to the performances of the EU science diplomacy, for example, in the form of technoscientific gifts as well as sharing and jointly developing kn/own/ables. Expert experiences of co-developing research-intensive solutions with Morocco- and Tunisia-based colleagues to address the most pressing challenges faced by the EU and its Southern neighbours are resourceful. They offer new insights into the patterned routines that support the implementation of such supranationally steered governance frameworks as the European Research Area, including its external action and science diplomacy dimensions. Almost half of the studied projects correspond to the archetype with one EU-funded project interaction. This confirms the rather sporadic or ad hoc relational ties of the European Southern Neighbourhood to the European Research Area, facilitated by various Europe-based competence centres.