The Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland is hosting an intensive summer school focused on small states and European integration from 22 June to 4 July. This is the thirteenth year in a row in which the summer school is held. Students from six universities in Europe participate in the school and the teaching is carried out by internationally renowned academics in the field. The summer school is part of a larger Erasmus+ strategic partnership project. The University of Iceland is the lead partner, with five other universities participating in the project: The University of Copenhagen, Vilnius University, Tallinn University of Technology, University of St. Andrews and the University of Malta. The six higher education institutions are developing close cooperation in the field of small state studies. The grant is used to organise summer schools, seminars, student mobility and to develop cooperation with regard to teaching.
The University of Malta, in cooperation with the Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland, hosted the first open seminar of the project in May 2015. Baldur Þórhallsson, Professor of Political Science, Pia Hansson, Director of the Centre for Small State Studies and Jón Gunnar Ólafsson, Project Manager at the Centre for Small State Studies participated in the seminar on behalf of the University of Iceland. The Centre for Small State Studies is run under the auspices of the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland.
The Centre for Small State Studies launched a new publication series in 2014 in which contemporary academic research concerning small states is introduced in a succinct and coherent manner. These short analytical papers are aimed at journalists, government officials, foreign diplomats and all those interested in learning about new research in the field of small state studies. The CSSS was awarded a Centre of Excellence grant from the European Union’s Lifelong Learning Programme in 2013. The Centre for Small State Studies has thus become a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. With regard to the grant, the Centre aims at strengthening interdisciplinary research concerning small states and their role in international society. Six short analytical papers are now available online at the Centre for Small State Studies website, www.csss.hi.is, under publications. The author of the latest brief, titled South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh Between a Contested Territory and a Small State, is Urban Jaksa. He participated in the Small States Summer School in 2013 and is currently a PhD student at the University of York.