Interest in the role and position of the European Union on the world stage has been growing in various parts of the scientific and policy-making communities. This project covers the organisation of a major international conference on "the EU in International Affairs" (EUIA), to be held in Brussels in May 2016. For this purpose, the IES partners with three academic institutes (IEE-ULB, UNU-CRIS and Egmont) and draws upon an international steering committee of world-renowned academics. Based upon past experience, the event will involve approximately 300 scholars from different disciplines and nationalities. It also seeks to reach out to the Brussels policy-making community and think tanks as well as teachers and young academics, by combining ca. 30 academic panels on four main thematic areas with policy link panels, a roundtable with think tank representatives, teaching panels, a young researchers masterclass, an opening keynote address and a closing high-level senior academic scholars' panel. As such, the conference will (a) provide a forum for presenting and promoting discussion and reflection on ongoing policy-relevant research; (b) explore new directions for future research as well as new methodologies for teaching EU studies; (c) enable the further development of a multidisciplinary network of scholars and practitioners; and (d) foster the engagement of young academics in EU teaching and research. It is methodologically based on an open call for papers and a triple blind review process. It will result in several video and audio podcasts of the events and reports of the academic panels produced by graduate students, to be distributed online, and a conference report. The project can build on the experience of four highly successful previous editions (in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014) and aims to consolidate the conference’s reputation of being the premier venue for debating the role of the EU on the world stage.