The Jean Monnet Network, a Policy Debate project, “BRIDGE Watch: values and democracy in the EU and Latin America”, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, LACES (Latin-American Center for European Studies) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, invite young researchers to submit their work for the V Jean Monnet Prize for Social Sciences, on topics related to ‘The globalisation of EU values and democracy’, whose main objective is to promote excellence in research.

Only unpublished research papers submitted by young researchers up to 35 years of age will be accepted. Authors must be currently enrolled in any higher education institution or have been enrolled in the last 18 months in an undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral course. Papers will not be accepted from researchers participating in research groups, extracurricular courses or other activities, who are not or have not been enrolled in the above-mentioned period.

Research papers written in English, Spanish or Portuguese, submitted individually or in co-authorship (maximum three authors), will be accepted. The research paper must be between 60,000 and 80,000 characters in length (spaces included). Authors must submit it by 1 June 2026.

The author of the highest-rated research paper will be awarded the 6th Jean Monnet Prize for Social Sciences – Jean Monnet Network “BRIDGE Watch: values and democracy in the EU and Latin America”. In addition, they will be invited to participate (with travel and accommodation expenses covered) in the 12th Seminar of the Jean Monnet Network BRIDGE on Green Transition and Sustainable Societies, to be held at the University of the Republic (Uruguay), where they will present their work on 7 October 2026.

The second and third place research papers will receive an ‘honourable mention’. Both the winning paper, as well as the papers receiving an honourable mention, will be published as scientific articles in Vol. 6 No 2 (2026) of the Latin American Journal of European Studies.

For further details, the updated call can be found:

English: EN_contest for young researchers
Spanish: ES_contest for young researchers
Portuguese: PT_contest for young researchers