Prague University of Economics and Business joins European SENSEI research project. The project will focus on the effectiveness of international sanctions

Do international sanctions work, or are they merely a political gesture? This highly topical question of contemporary geopolitics will be addressed by the new research project SENSEI (Sanctions Effectiveness Network for Scholarship and Evaluation through Interdisciplinarity). Thanks to the Faculty of International Relations, Prague University of Economics and Business is becoming part of a prestigious international consortium that has received a grant of EUR 3.5 million from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme for this research.

In the current unstable geopolitical situation, international sanctions are being used more frequently than ever before. In practice, however, political decision-making often comes up against academic theories, which frequently point to their limited effectiveness — something that is also clearly reflected in current debates on sanctions imposed on Russia. The SENSEI project aims to resolve this discrepancy. Its goal is to connect academic knowledge with the real world and offer policymakers and companies practical guidance based on hard data from various disciplines.

VŠE as a key partner for the Czech Republic

The large multidisciplinary project, led by the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, brings together 9 European universities and 7 research institutes from France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. One of the Czech representatives is the Faculty of International Relations at VŠE. 

“The issue of international sanctions is extremely topical today, but in practice sanctions are often imposed without a deeper understanding of their real impacts and effectiveness. I am therefore very pleased that the Faculty of International Relations can represent the Czech Republic in such a prestigious European consortium. Our goal is not merely to theorise, but to provide real data and tools that will help European policymakers and companies make better and more evidence-based decisions,” says Prof. Štěpánka Zemanová.

A new generation of experts and practical outputs 

The project is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme as part of the prestigious MSCA Doctoral Networks 2025 grants. A central pillar of the SENSEI network over the coming years will be the training of 12 outstanding doctoral researchers, who will become a new generation of European specialists. They will be able to assess sanctions as a complex instrument that has not only political, but also major economic, legal and humanitarian impacts. 

The researchers will analyse how sanctions work across the entire policy cycle and will take into account economic, political and legal perspectives. Their work will result in two key outputs: 

• European sanctions toolbox: A practical set of tools and recommendations intended directly for European policymakers and companies. 

• Handbook on sanctions theory: An expert handbook that will take the academic debate on sanctions to a new level and serve researchers and students alike. 

By participating in this project, the Faculty of International Relations at VŠE once again confirms its strong position in the field of international research and its direct contribution to addressing the most pressing strategic challenges currently facing the European Union.

More information about the project is available here.