Welcome to my website. My name is Dr Matt Broad. I am Assistant Professor (tenured) in History and International Studies at Leiden University, Founding Director of the Centre for the History of European Integration (CHEI), co-convenor of the Cold War Research Network (CWRN), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and an Associate Member of Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
I work on the history and politics of European integration from 1945 to today, and on what that record means for the European Union now. My research treats the EU as one outcome among several competing models of postwar integration. To that end I study the likes of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Economic Area and the association agreements linking EC/EU members with outsider states during and after the Cold War. This work rests on detailed archival research, most notably including Britain’s shifting relationship with Europe. I am also interested in the many forms Euroscepticism has taken across European politics, in Britain and elsewhere. That archival grounding lets me test concepts widely used in EU Studies, such as differentiated integration and gradations of membership, against the evidence of how those arrangements were actually built and contested. Many of today’s debates in the EU – over enlargement, association and the terms of membership – are the latest versions of arguments running for decades, and my work sets out that background in detail.
I have published widely in this area, including five authored/edited books and numerous articles and chapters in modern British, European, international and diplomatic history – see the publications tab for more details. My research has been supported by substantial external funding, including from the European Commission, AHRC, and British Academy worth around €300,000 to date – see the grants/prizes tab for more details. These awards have supported individual research, international collaboration, teaching innovation and wider academic network-building.
Leadership and education are also central to my work. I am an award-winning teacher of the MA International Relations (MAIR) and BA International Studies (BAIS) programmes. I also currently chair the MAIR Programme Committee (OLC), a major programme-management role involving curriculum development, quality assurance and staff-student consultation. In this capacity I help ensure that the programme remains intellectually coherent, well-run, responsive to student needs and connected to current debates in international relations and European politics.
Dr. Matthew Broad 