As the director of the Centre for EU Studies, he plays an active role in research and teaching on EU politics at Ghent University. His research and teaching focus on the ‘soft’ (trade, development, social) dimensions of EU external relations and on the EU’s role as a civilian/normative power. He has published articles on these topics in various books and in journals. He edited two books on EU trade and development politics (with Gerrit Faber, Routledge, 2007 and 2009), one book on European external policies (Ashgate, 2008), and one book on Europe’s global social policies (Routledge, 2008) and special issues of the European Foreign Affairs Review (2009, 2011), Res Publica (2008, 2), the Journal of Contemporary European Research (2013) and Contemporary Politics (2014). More information on his publications can be found at his webpage: http://ceus.ugent.be/researchers/jan-orbie