EKONOMSKI FAKULTET, UNIVERZITET U BEOGRADU

Their core work

The Faculty of Economics at the University of Belgrade is Serbia's leading economics research institution, focused on agricultural economics, food supply chain policy, and the political economy of Southeast European development. Their H2020 work centers on understanding how EU food quality and procurement policies affect sustainability, and how domestic firms in peripheral European economies navigate institutional weaknesses to drive growth. They bring a distinctly Western Balkans perspective to European policy research, combining empirical economics with governance analysis.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earlier H2020 work (2015–2019) was squarely in agricultural economics and food policy, contributing to large EU consortia studying sustainable food systems. By 2020, they shifted toward a more independent research agenda — coordinating SEEGROW, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship examining economic governance, institutional weakness, and firm-level growth dynamics in Southeast Europe. This marks a move from sector-specific food policy toward broader political economy and development research, with a stronger regional identity.

They are moving from being a data contributor in large food-policy consortia toward leading research on how peripheral European economies — especially the Western Balkans — can build institutional capacity for growth.

How they like to work

With 1 coordinated project and 2 as participant, they are transitioning from a supporting role in large consortia to leading their own research. Their 44 unique partners across 18 countries indicate broad European exposure, largely gained through the two large RIA food-policy projects. As coordinator of SEEGROW (an MSCA fellowship), they demonstrated the ability to host and manage independent research, though at a smaller scale.

Connected to 44 unique partners across 18 countries, mostly through two large food-policy consortia. Their network spans Western and Southern Europe extensively, with growing links in the Western Balkans through their own coordinated work.

What sets them apart

As one of very few Serbian institutions active in H2020 food policy and economic governance research, they offer a rare Western Balkans perspective that most EU consortia lack. Their combination of agricultural economics expertise with deep understanding of institutional challenges in non-EU peripheral economies makes them valuable for any project needing empirical insights from candidate and pre-accession countries. For consortium builders targeting EU enlargement topics or Southeast European case studies, they are a natural anchor partner in the region.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Strength2Food
  Their largest funded project (EUR 283,125), part of a major EU consortium examining how food quality labels and public procurement can strengthen sustainability across European food chains.
• SEEGROW
  Their first coordinated project — an MSCA Individual Fellowship studying how domestic firms and governance institutions drive economic growth in Southeast Europe, signaling research independence.