Léonce Bekemans {BA in Philosophy (Leuven/B), MA in International Studies (Bologna/It & Washington D.C.) and PhD in International Relations (EUI Florence/Leuven) is professor and Jean Monnet Chair ad personam “Globalisation, Europeanisation, Human Development” at the University of Padua (It); academic coordinator of its Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “Intercultural dialogue and Multi-level Governance” and collaborates closely with its Human Rights Centre and its PhD programme on “Human Rights, Society, Multi-level Governance”.

He has an international profile and interdisciplinary academic background with a broad and long-lasting research and multi-lingual teaching/research experience in European studies and an international publication record. His main research interests relate to the broad area of value-oriented integration studies with a focus on the relations between economy, polity, culture and society from a global, European and local perspective and their wider societal impact.

He has been working and collaborating in various European institutes with combined teaching, research and management responsibilities. From 2007 till 2012 he was a Jean Monnet Chair “Globalisation, Intercultural Dialogue and Inclusiveness in the EU”. He has been a research fellow at the Pàzmàny Péter University of Budapest, visiting professor at the International University of Catalonia in Barcelona as well as at the Opole University in Poland. He has been a Jean Monnet visiting professor at the Polonia University in Czestochowa (Pl) (2002-2007) and the “Sapienza” University in Rome (2007-2010) and a former full time professor of the College of Europe in Bruges (B) (1991-2001). Currently, he is also a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Milan.

Apart from his teaching activities at various European universities, he is an appreciated speaker at international conferences on European issues. He has been an expert to the Council of Europe and still collaborates with the European Commission in relation to European education and intercultural dialogue issues as well as with the Committee of the Regions in relation to multilevel governance. He participated to the EU High Level Advisory Group on “Dialogue between Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership” and cooperated with the Anna Lindh Foundation on Intercultural Citizenship Education in the Euro- Mediterranean area.  He collaborated with Unesco’s Programme of Action for a Culture of Peace and non-Violence. He is also the president of Europahuis “Ryckevelde”, a not-for-profit organisation dealing with European citizenship in Bruges (B) and member of various international scientific and advisory boards.

He has written many articles and edited/published books on various European related issues. His most recent publications are “Intercultural Dialogue and Multi-level Governance. A Human Rights Based Approach” (Sept. 2012), “A Value Driven European Future” (Nov. 2012), and “Globalisation vs Europeanisation: A Human-centric Interaction” (Sept. 2013), all published with Peter Lang, International Academic Publishers. He is also the director of its Series “Europe of Cultures” (subseries “Europe of Dialogues” and “Europe of Living Stories”), published by Peter Lang, International Academic Publishers.