PhD candidate in Law at the Transitional Justice Institute, School of Law of Ulster University

Interests : Digital Inequality
Countries : Ireland

Leah Rea is a PhD candidate in Law at the Transitional Justice Institute,
School of Law of Ulster University where she is researching the
relationship between constitutional conventions and the progression
of human rights. She holds a Master’s degree in Violence, Terrorism
and Security, a Master’s degree in Conflict Transformation and Social
Justice and a Law degree from Queen’s University Belfast. Leah was
accepted into the FEPS Young Academics Network for the 2022-2023
cohort. An alumna of ICNC’s online course on civil resistance, Leah
has participated in multiple human rights campaigns in Northern
Ireland, and also has experience in student union activism.

Publications
Ecosocial food policies – proposal for a new social-democratic approach

In the run-up to the European elections in 2024, this policy study delves into the essential question of why we need to transform the EU food system and how to do it – adopting an ecosocialist perspective that serves as a basis for a new, progressive, social- democratic and ecological food policy.

Read the policy study

Political Mentor: Niels Fuglsang, MEP S&D
Academic Mentor: Thomas Froehlich, Research Fellow, King’s College London

Members

PhD candidate in Law at the Transitional Justice Institute, School of Law of Ulster University

Interests : Digital Inequality
Countries : Ireland
EU regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising?

This policy study delves into the evolution of the regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, exploring upcoming key changes and their connection to broader discussions on populism, democratic values, and access to quality information. Additionally, it provides guidelines for progressive parties on leveraging this legislation to initiate comprehensive strategies to combat extremist populism and antidemocratic movements within the EU.

Read the policy study

Political Mentor: Alex Agius Saliba, MEP S&D
Academic Mentor: Kuba Jablonowski, Lecturer in Digital Sociology

Members

History and Policies of the European Union

Interests : Democracy
Countries : Italy

Adjunct professor at the Universidad Carlos
III de Madrid.

Interests : Economy Digital
Countries : Spain

PhD candidate in Law at the Transitional Justice Institute, School of Law of Ulster University

Interests : Digital Inequality
Countries : Ireland

Expert in data analysis for public management and political analysis

Interests : Digital
Countries : Spain
Publications
16/05/2024

EU regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising

FEPS YAN Series

PhD candidate London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Interests : Economy Social Europe
Countries : Ireland

Neil is a Sociology PhD candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he is investigating the proposals for the socialisation of investment in Western Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, and their failure. He holds a research Masters in History, which looked at the unemployment policy in the British Labour Party in the 1980s and 1990s, and a BA in History and Political Science from a Trinity College Dublin. He was previously also a Vice-President of the Young European Socialists (YES), where he was a founder and coordinator of the YES-IUSY Political Economy Working Group. His strongest academic interests are in questions of political economy and economic policy, with a particular focus on European socialist and social democratic parties, and methods of historical sociology.

How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

Publications
European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the EU’s multilateral development bank. In this FEPS YAN policy study, the authors suggest four reforms that would help progressive policymakers to utilize unlock the EIB’s potential to play a greater role in the EU economy and its transition to a more resilient, climate-neutral, and progressive economy.

First, the authors suggest the EIB adopts more comprehensive lending targets based on social and environmental criteria. Second, they highlight the need for a stronger focus on equity-like instruments rather than debt instruments, especially in the ongoing response to the Covid-19 crisis. Third, they propose to strengthen the EIB’s accountability towards the European Parliament to ensure a legitimate political direction and democratic control of its activities. Fourth, they propose to convert the EIB’s retained profits into paid-in capital, unlocking up to €110 billion of additional lending capacity. To simultaneously accomplish increased democratic accountability, the authors suggest converting the EIB’s retained profits into EU capital and thus making the EU an EIB shareholder.

Read the paper:
How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

Political Mentor: EP Vice President and S&D MEP Pedro Silva Pereira
Academic Mentor: Carlo d' Ippoliti, Associate professor of political economy at the Department of Statistical Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome.

Members

PhD candidate Kingston University London

Interests : Economy Social Europe
Countries : Austria United Kingdom
Publications
25/01/2022

How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

28/06/2019

European Economic Democracy A new path out of the crisis

13/06/2019

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections: Race for Power: Major Campaign Issues

11/06/2019

The New Indian Government

16/04/2019

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections II

16/04/2019

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections I

05/04/2019

India and South Asia Dossier: March 2019

28/02/2019

India and South Asia Dossier: February 2019

04/02/2019

India and South Asia Dossier: December 2018 - January 2019

03/12/2018

India and South Asia: November 2018 Dossier

22/11/2018

India and South Asia Dossier: October 2018

05/10/2018

India and South Asia: September 2018 Dossier

05/09/2018

India and South Asia: July-August 2018 Dossier

03/05/2018

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA: APRIL 2018 DOSSIER

15/03/2018

India and South Asia: February 2018 Dossier

16/01/2018

India and South Asia: December 2017 Dossier

06/12/2017

India and South Asia: November 2017 Dossier

17/11/2017

India and South Asia: October 2017 Dossier

24/10/2017

India and South Asia: September 2017 Dossier

09/06/2017

Beyond Basic Income

Overcoming the Crisis of Social Democracy?
09/10/2014

South Asia: July dossier