Over five months, working very closely with EIB staff involved and using desk research, interviews and an online survey, the students assessed the state of the Knowledge Programme activities. Though participants agree that cooperation between academia and the EIB Group is a tremendous asset, more could be done in terms of awareness of funding for research, dissemination of research results, EIB staff participation and clarifying the expectations concerning the research projects.

This is the fourth Capstone project conducted by the EIB with the students of the LSE’s MPA Programme. As part of their curriculum, students are required to undertake a consultancy project on a selected topic relevant to a client organisation (a Capstone project). A number of international organisations such as the World Bank, EBRD, OECD and the UK Government are regular participants in the MPA Capstone programme.