The Jean Monnet Chair EU ASTER: Active Subsidiarity for Territorial Equity and Regions is hosted by the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) and funded by the European Union under the 2026 Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Actions. Led by Cristina Ares Castro-Conde, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration, EU ASTER aims to strengthen USC’s contribution to European debates on multilevel governance, territorial cohesion and the administrative capacity of regional and local authorities.
EU ASTER integrates teaching, applied research and knowledge transfer around active subsidiarity and territorial equity. It builds on the EUROPEA Research Group’s work on European public administrations and policies, and on the expertise of the Research Institute of Studies and Development of Galicia (IDEGA) in socioeconomic and territorial development. This institutional framework connects research on European integration with the practical challenges facing regional and local authorities as they implement EU policies, manage EU funds and translate Union values into administrative practice.
Teaching
The Chair will establish a coherent pathway spanning bachelor’s, master’s and lifelong-learning provision in EU studies. Its flagship lifelong-learning initiative is a fully online, 2-ECTS micro-credential, “EU Governance and Public Administration from the Regions”, designed primarily for regional and local government officials and other adult learners. Over its three-year duration the Chair is expected to reach some 1,045 bachelor’s and master’s students and around 50 micro-credential participants, and to produce reusable, competence-based teaching resources aligned with the European approach to micro-credentials.
Research
EU ASTER will develop an open-access dataset on administrative capacity at regional level in Spain, drawing on cooperation with civil servants responsible for EU funds in all 17 Autonomous Communities. The dataset will underpin online analyses, research publications and an international workshop, providing territorially grounded evidence for debates on cohesion policy, better regulation and the European Administrative Space.
Knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer is integrated throughout the project. EU ASTER will produce podcasts on the territorial dimension of EU policies, co-organise workshops with IDEGA and regional and local administrations, and conduct EU4Youth visits to secondary schools on Article 2 TEU values, EU policies and democratic resilience.
Why it matters
The European Commission’s ComPAct Communication serves as a key analytical reference across the Chair’s teaching, research and knowledge-transfer activities. Through these interconnected activities, the Chair will establish a durable pathway in EU studies at USC, strengthen the evidence base on regional administrative capacity, and create lasting channels for dialogue among researchers, students, public administrations and civil society.
Funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme – Jean Monnet Actions (ERASMUS-JMO-2026-HEI-TCH-RSCH-CHAIR). Project 101319712 – EU ASTER. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
EU ASTER is a Jean Monnet Chair hosted by the Research Institute of Studies and Development of Galicia (IDEGA) and the School of Political and Social Sciences at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
Chair Holder
Cristina Ares is the Chair. Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at USC and accredited as Full Professor (Catedrática de Universidad) by ANECA, she is an alumna of the College of Europe in Bruges and leads the EUROPEA Research Group on Public Administrations and Policies in Europe.
Her research addresses the territorial dimension of European integration. She works on multilevel governance, administrative capacity, public ethics, and programmatic supply, with sustained attention to how EU policymaking operates on the ground: the implementation of cohesion policy, regional parliaments, the administrative capacity of regional and local authorities, and the day-to-day application of subsidiarity and proportionality. Her work has been published in journals including West European Politics, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Journal of European Public Policy and Politique Européenne, and in volumes from Routledge, Edward Elgar, CIS, Tirant lo Blanch and INAP.
Her EU-level engagement runs through both scholarship and policy. In 2025 she was appointed an Associate Member of the Subsidiarity Expert Group of the European Committee of the Regions for the 2025-2030 term. She has contributed her expertise to the European Parliament’s work on European sovereignty and subsidiarity, including through its AFCO and JURI committees.
Core Team
The Chair’s core team brings together four members of the School of Political and Social Sciences at USC with complementary specialisations, covering the Chair’s delivery at bachelor, master and lifelong learning level.
Alba Alonso, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration and Vice-Dean for Internationalisation (2025-2031), works on EU public policies, representation and equality, and leads the Chair’s undergraduate teaching enrichment and student outreach, including EU4Youth activities.
Montserrat Pintado, Associate Professor of International Relations, contributes expertise on EU external action and multilevel governance and co-designs the Chair’s master’s components and online micro-credential.
Javier López, doctoral researcher in EU public policy, provides teaching support across the EU ASTER pathway and contributes to its research and knowledge transfer activities.
IDEGA
EU ASTER is based at IDEGA, USC’s interdisciplinary research institute on territorial development, which provides the Chair’s institutional home and supports its research, doctoral supervision and policy dialogue activities. IDEGA’s long-standing collaboration with Galician, Spanish and EU public authorities keeps the Chair’s work close to the needs of regional and local administrations, from its administrative capacity dataset to its policy briefs and territorial equity workshops.