Andreea Nastase was a Romanian 2022-2023 Fulbright Schuman Research Scholar in Political Science at James Madison University. Dr. Nastase is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, where she teaches various subjects in European Union politics and governance in BA and MA programmes. In her research, Andreea explores public ethics, integrity and democratic legitimacy in EU governance, while her most current work focuses on EU lobbying and lobbyists.
Category: 2022
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Métro, boulot, dodo
It was the type of Parisian street that I loved, wide enough for a car, but really intended for pedestrians. Under the streetlights, the stunning Hausmannian facades seemed to lean gently over the sidewalk. Tonight, though, my eyes were fixed not up at the buildings, but down at the pavement – or what I could […]
Imagine a world powered by a fuel of the future, hydrogen. Picture hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles smoothly sailing the streets alongside electric vehicles as integral pieces of a zero-emission transportation system. If this vision seems far-fetched, then California might surprise you. As a Polish Ph.D. candidate, I never dreamed of witnessing this transformative shift first-hand until the Fulbright Schuman Program turned my dreams into reality.
Like most foreigners landing in the Netherlands, a not insubstantial part of my life for the past nine months has revolved around biking. While I once thought biking was a relatively simple activity, I’ve now come to realize its different forms. There’s fun biking, and there’s stress biking. There’s dry biking, and there’s wet biking […]
As the recipient of a Fulbright Schuman European Affairs Program Fellowship, Prof. Sandy Dall’erba has spent the 2022-2023 academic year conducting research in Economics at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and the University of Toulouse, France. His work focuses on the global food supply chain, the amount of water it consumes and the impact of […]
My long-awaited Fulbright experience started on a tropical day at the end of August and finished with an exceptional winter storm right before Christmas. Unlike the temperature, my enthusiasm for living and studying in New England did constantly increase during those four months.
Long ago, learning a second (and third) language as a teenager sparked my interest in international travel, which – after experiencing that travel – inspired me to study International Relations. This eventually led to my academic career and to the Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs award, so it seems apropos to return to these roots here. […]
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The Amherst playlists
I arrived in the peaceful, scenic town of Amherst, set in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and home of three schools of the renowned Five College Consortium1, in mid-August 2021 for a seven-month stay in the Anthropology Department at the University of Massachusetts as a Fulbright Schuman Professor Awardee. I had made the move […]
My Fulbright project looked at why and how law is being used as a tool of democratic inclusion in Europe—the idea of legal mobilization. Specifically, I was investigating how lawyers on the ground in struggles for social justice work with clients, civil society organizations, and larger networks to formulate legal claims asking European-level courts—the Court […]
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A sense of community
In my line of research, I often ask respondents, “do you feel a sense of community” in their country of asylum. This question prompts various responses, where some have found their “tribe” and others feel like a lone wolf. Their answer often informs my follow-up question: “do you regret your initial decision to leave your […]