The Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Politics, at the Christian Albrechts-University of Kiel (CAU) and the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome, with the support of the Volkswagen Stiftung , are establishing and fostering a European network of scholars and practitioners in order to examine the role of the European Union (EU) in the current wider reform process of the United Nations (UN).