LAC-EU Network Members at the EULAS Conference in Rio de Janeiro
From 23 to 25 March 2026, several members of the LAC-EU Network participated in the international conference "Euro-Latin America & Caribbean Cooperation in Governing Climate and Biodiversity and Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals", co-organized by the EULAS Jean Monnet Network and the Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio).
EULAS is a Jean Monnet Network funded by the European Union and led by IBEI. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners from across Europe and Latin America to discuss multiple dimensions of the EU-LAC relationship, with a particular focus on climate governance, biodiversity, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Many LAC-EU members attended the event fresh from Buenos Aires, where the network had held its Second Network Event at FLACSO Argentina the previous week. PUC-Rio, host of the EULAS Conference, also serves as an associated partner of LAC-EU and recently welcomed the first cohort of LAC-EU doctoral candidates for their academic secondments.
The opening welcome remarks on 24 March were delivered by Andrea Bianculli and Jacint Jordana — both from IBEI, LAC-EU and EULAS — alongside Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann from PUC-Rio.
LAC-EU members presenting at the conference
Several LAC-EU network members contributed research to the event's rich programme.
The conference also provided a platform for LAC- EU doctoral candidates to share advances in their research.
Luciana Coube Cardoso (IBEI) presented "Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Involvement in Transnational and Global Cities Networks: Cities within Global Environmental Governance in Amazonia", and Joaquin Caprarulo (KU Leuven) co-presented "Reassessing GRULAC-EU Human Rights Cross-Regional Affinity in the United Nations Human Rights Council" with Gustavo Gayger Müller (KU Leuven).
Jan Wouters (KU Leuven) participated in the roundtable "European Green Deal in Global Context".
Gustavo Müller (KU Leuven) presented two papers: "To Whom Is This Regulation Fair(trade)? Global South Contestation of the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)", co-authored with Maria Martins (KU Leuven) and Bruno Luciano (UNESP), and "Participatory Strategy-Making? The Role of Civil Society in EU–LAC Relations", co-authored with Maria Martins (KU Leuven).
Patrick Le Galès (Sciences Po) presented "Ambitious Cities versus Restructuring States: Conflicts and Differentiation in São Paulo and Paris", co-authored with Eduardo Marques (University of São Paulo). Dunia Gras (Universitat de Barcelona) presented "Barnalatina/Latinobarna: Barcelona como plataforma literaria transatlántica" in the same panel.
Carmen Fonseca (IPRI – Universidade Nova de Lisboa) presented "A diplomacia ambiental na relação UE-CELAC – o caso do Brasil" in the panel on climate governance and regional fragmentation.
The strong presence of LAC-EU doctoral and senior researchers across panels and roundtables reflects the growing synergies between LAC-EU and EULAS built over the past years. This conference, like the EULAS Rosario Conference organised in November 2025, offered a valuable opportunity for our members — and especially our doctoral researchers — to share their research with scholars working in their fields and to engage with the broader community of EU-LAC academics and specialists.
We extend our warmest thanks to PUC-Rio for hosting this wonderful event and for welcoming our members so generously.
