This project will consolidate and enhance teaching, research and public engagement in European integration at Maynooth University and in Ireland. It will do so by expanding significantly the range of EU-centred courses taught at Maynooth and by introducing innovative new pedagogic elements to the curriculum, including an intensive fieldtrip to the EU institutions in Brussels and EU Negotiation Simulation games in Dublin and Brussels. The project proceeds from a perceived need to produce critical, informed and constructive research, teaching, and engagement on the EU in Ireland. The impact of the financial crisis and protracted austerity has been profound and one consequence has been a growing trend toward mistrust of the European Union, and (as elsewhere in the EU), a turn toward populist Eurosceptic political parties. Knowledge and information deficits have characterized the Irish public engagement with the EU for many years. They encourage misunderstanding and misconceptions about European integration and its significance for member states and citizens.This problem is now an acute one across the EU but doubly the case in Ireland in which referendums are frequent, and likely to be necessitated by further steps towards deepening of the Eurozone. Research, teaching and public engagement will pay significant attention to EMU but will also highlight the significance of enlargement, neighbourhood and CSDP policies. Recent events in Ukraine remind us of the necessity of an active EU enlargement policy and academics, students, and civil society will benefit from this sustained engagement with these topics. The project will significantly expand the range of EU activity pursued by the Chair holder and Maynooth University, including teaching and mentoring of students and young professionals, significant debate with practitioners, high-impact publishing on core research areas, and achieving appropriate media and social media exploitation synergies.