Dr Martin Ferry and Dr Laura Polverari, of EPRC, attended the 8th Pan-European Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on the European Union (SGEU), which was hosted by the University of Trento, Italy, on 15-18 June 2016. Both Laura and Martin acted as chairs and discussants in a number of panels, and presented papers notably on: 'Institutional Capacity: A Precondition or a Product of Effective Policy Performance? Evidence from Cohesion Policy in Central and Eastern Europe' (Martin Ferry); 'Cohesion Policy Implementation in Southern Europe: Policy, Institutional and Political Hurdles. What Next?' (Laura Polverari); and, 'The accountability of EU Cohesion policy: Accountability at a cross-road? (Laura Polverari together with Ida Musialkowska, Professor at Poznan University of Economics and Business). An entire section of the conference, counting nine panels, was dedicated to 'The Cohesion Dimension of the EU: Solidarity, Democracy and Competition', under the co-chairmanship of Dr Laura Polverari and Dr Eve Hepburn (University of Edinburgh).
