Mar 3, 20203 minEU citizenship after BrexitOn 31 January 2020, Brexit became a fact. The UK is no longer an EU member state and is considered by the EU as a third country. Since th...
Mar 2, 20202 minEuropean polycrisis: is the EU under existential threat? In Delivering on European common goods. Strengthening Member States’ capacity to act in the 21st century the European Political Strategy ...
Mar 2, 20202 minThe Worldbank and “Global Waves of Debt”It is common knowledge that global debt has risen sharply since the 2008 crisis. The Worldbank, which has just presented the first in-dep...
Feb 18, 20202 minLand vs sea ice melting: A crucial differenceThe biannual melting of polar ice in both hemispheres has received significant media attention over the last two decades, especially afte...
Feb 6, 20202 minCoronavirus: what is the social impact of global health emergencies?The outbreak of the Coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in January 2020 has drawn renewed attention to the possible consequences of a pandemic –...
Jan 31, 20202 minWill the world switch to Renewable Electricity generation in the future?Within debates regarding global climate change, the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a consequence of burning fossil energy sources, s...
Jan 24, 20203 minGrowing urbanisation and the urgent need for “smart cities” Within the Horizon Europe framework programme that begins in 2021, five mission areas can be identified. One of these areas is “climate-n...
Jan 21, 20203 minThe future of passports: Biometrics authentication and potential risksThe world of passports has changed radically over time. Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) famously noted that there was a time w...
Jan 20, 20203 minOil contracts settled in Bitcoin?As the Middle East crisis continues to unfold with its current focus on Iran and Iraq, the U.S. have warned Iraq that its vote to expel U...
Jan 13, 20203 minHas the importance of soil health been overlooked?The FCI previously touched on some of the “mission areas” that the EU has identified as key fields of research and innovation under the €...
Jan 8, 20203 minCan humanity deal with rising sea levels?One of the five “mission areas” identified by the European Union as part of the Horizon Europe framework programme beginning in 2021 is “...
Jan 6, 20202 minCan someone hold nine citizenships – or more?While multiple citizenship was traditionally rejected, it has nowadays become increasingly common. From 1960 onwards, dual citizenship to...
Dec 31, 20192 minWill Schengen survive 2020?As the year is coming to a close, FCI takes stock of some migration-related developments in 2019. In January it had become clear that the...
Dec 18, 20193 minGlobal Online Education and EqualitySubsequent to the emergence of digital and encrypted money comes an increase of globally offered goods and services. This novel competiti...
Dec 16, 20192 minDesigner babies: A call for a debate on the ethics of human selection?In November last year, during the second International Summit on Human Gene Editing, a presentation by Chinese researcher He Jiankui rais...
Dec 16, 20193 minBitcoin remittances during Lebanon’s economic crisisAs bitcoin has been designed to be a peer-to-peer cash system, an alternative to government-backed fiat currencies, warnings regarding it...
Dec 11, 20193 minIs DNA the answer to our problems of data storage?In our current age we want to store so much data that technology cannot keep up. A promising solution seems to be data storage in synthet...
Dec 9, 20193 minThe PISA ranking: a reliable indicator of students’ capabilities?This month the triennial PISA ranking – the Programme for International Student Assessment – was published, the seventh round of assessme...
Dec 3, 20193 minCan Technology solve the world's problems?Modern societies are struggling how to cope with an ever faster succession of innovations as well as major challenges such as climate cha...
Nov 28, 20193 minWhat makes countries stand out in Education?One of the decisive factors for a good education system is giving teachers ownership of the teaching process. According to Andreas Schlei...