O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has received the coveted Jean Monnet Chair on ‘Multi-dimensional Approaches to the Understanding of the E.U. Data Protection Framework’. The award of the Chair at JGU is one of only two such awards across India. JGU is the only Private University in India to receive the award in 2020; the other being JNU.

JGU also secured the largest grant amount awarded by the European Union (E.U.) for the Jean Monnet Chair in India. 

Jean Monnet Chairs are named after Jean Monnet (1888-1979), a French Politician and Diplomat who had dedicated himself towards the integration of European Union. He played a pivotal role behind the historic ‘Schuman Declaration’ of 9 May 1950, leading to the formation of European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which further on ideated the integration of European Union.

The Jean Monnet Modules, Chairs, and Centers of Excellence are awarded annually. This year 1,447 eligible applications were submitted. India, in total, received five modules and chairs, across three universities. The JGU Jean Monnet Chair was awarded €35,640.00 for its application. The award of Jean Monnet Chairs is considered a step towards establishing the Center of Excellence.

Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice-Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) said, “This is indeed a proud and historic moment for JGU to have received the much coveted and prestigious award – a truly remarkable achievement. The award of the Jean Monnet Chair for JGU reflects the outstanding contribution of the faculty members of JGU in teaching, research and institution building. The Chair has created a new intellectual imagination with adequate funding and resources for advancing the cause of knowledge creation and dissemination of European studies in India. It is also an opportune time to pursue this work when the vision of multilateralism is facing a global challenge and new visions of collaboration, partnership and global engagement needs to be created for the future.”

These Chairs foster teaching and research excellence amongst University Professors in areas connected to the European Union Studies.

The Jean Monnet Chair that successfully received the grant in JGU includes Professor (Dr.) Indranath Gupta (Jean Monnet Chair – Academic Coordinator), Professor, Jindal Global Law School and Dean of Research (Projects, Grants and Publications), along with Prof. Avirup Bose, Associate Professor, Jindal Global Law School; Prof. Chitresh Kumar, Associate Professor, Jindal Global Business School and Prof. Krishna Deo Singh Chauhan, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School.

Professor Gupta, as the Chair holder said, “The award of the Chair is a testament to the institutional leadership of JGU in supporting research and scholarship. JGU has been at the forefront of teaching and research in a range of disciplinary areas, including European Studies. I am indebted to my University and delighted to have received this exceptional recognition. I am truly fortunate to have received the extraordinary support of all my colleagues (Chitresh, Avirup, Krishna, Sreejith, Sweta and Jitender) who have been instrumental behind the Grant Application”.

The Jean Monnet Chair will contribute towards strengthening, deliberating, and implementing E.U. studies, and in particular E.U. Data Protection Framework, by creating a specialized project with the overall objective of institutionalizing it within the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary academic framework of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU). The vision of the project titled “Multi-dimensional approaches to the understanding of the E.U. Data Protection Framework” will create an extensive and rigorous academic resource pool in the given area and will facilitate capacity-building exercises for different stakeholders. The wider implications of the courses and research conceived under this project will not be limited to a particular discipline but will add value to the understanding of a wider audience connected to different disciplines.

The Chair will undertake the dissemination of specialized new courses like: Understanding the E.U. structure of Informational Privacy, Building a global consensus through EU GDPR: An assessment of data privacy legislation in Asia (India, China, Philippines, and Thailand); The Demands of Business: Data Needs v/s Data Privacy; Privacy, and New Technologies – The E.U. Paradigm and; Data, Platforms and the Digital Economy: An E.U. Competition Law Perspective. Further, an edited volume and proceedings of events will be published following the open-access model.

The Chair will also organize three Dissemination events – Conference, Roundtable and Workshop on the following topics: (a) Protecting personal information on different platforms: Challenges and way forward, (b) Testing Durability and Flexibility features of E.U. Data Protection Framework, and (c) Deciphering E.U. Data Protection Framework.