The enduring Economic crisis, the refugee crisis and the pending British referendum have led many students, researchers and politicians to ask fundamental questions about retreat or further deepening of EU integration. In this context the Lean Monnet Chair (JMC) takes the theme of EU-crises politics to stimulate active engagement and discussion about prevailing challenges and contemporary crises of EU integration.First, it improves undergraduate teaching for political science and neighboring disciplines at Leipzig University (LU), which did not receive JMC funding so far. To this aim the new Chair for Multilevel governance (holder: applicant) will complement and improve existing teaching and develop innovative teaching on EU topics that focusses specific theoretical, conceptual and empirical features of EU integration. Second, the JMC offers new opportunities to develop special expertise within the field of European Studies that are present at UL with three MA programs: an MA European Studies (regional studies), an LLM on European Integration Law and a new MA EU integration is East and Central Europe. Here, the JMC uses potential for cooperation and synergies to offer students different fields of specialization that will improve their employability regarding expertise in EU economic integration, interdisciplinary analytical skills and a strong focus on practical experiences and exchanges. Third, the JMC puts recent crisis politics into the center of different activities that reach out beyond university and students to engage a wider range of persons to discussion and exchange therewith contributing to a better understanding of general and recent challenges to the integration process: researchers and practitioners in the region, the wider public as well as future teachers and their pupils in Leipzig schools.