GERMAN UNIVERSITY OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES

Their core work

The German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer (DHV Speyer) is Germany's only university exclusively dedicated to public administration, administrative law, and governance. It trains senior civil servants and conducts research on how governments design, implement, and reform regulatory frameworks — from EU trade policy to multi-level governance structures. In H2020, DHV Speyer contributed expertise in European regulation, accountability mechanisms, and the political science of public trust. Their value to research consortia lies in the ability to analyze how policy is made and how institutions gain or lose legitimacy across different governance levels.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

DHV Speyer entered H2020 through EUTIP (2017–2021), focusing on the external dimension of EU policy — specifically trade and investment regulation — where no detailed thematic keywords were recorded. Their second project, TiGRE (2020–2023), shifted inward toward the legitimacy and trust foundations of governance itself, with explicit keywords around accountability, distrust, and multi-level policymaking. This suggests a trajectory from analysing what EU policy does to analysing how and why it is accepted or resisted by the public and regulated actors.

DHV Speyer appears to be deepening its focus on the political legitimacy of regulatory institutions — a topic increasingly central to EU governance debates — suggesting future projects around democratic accountability, regulatory trust, and citizen-facing public administration reform.

How they like to work

DHV Speyer has participated exclusively as a consortium partner, never leading an H2020 project — consistent with a specialist institution that contributes targeted governance and public administration expertise rather than driving large research agendas. Despite only two projects, they have engaged with 43 unique partners across 14 countries, indicating they join well-networked, large collaborative consortia. This points to a reliable specialist contributor role: brought in for their niche regulatory and administrative science expertise, not as project managers.

DHV Speyer has built a surprisingly broad network for a two-project participant: 43 unique consortium partners across 14 countries, suggesting they join large, multi-partner research consortia spanning most of the EU. Their network skews toward social science and policy research institutions rather than industry.

What sets them apart

DHV Speyer is Germany's only university entirely focused on public administration science, making it a rare asset in consortia that need genuine expertise in how government institutions function, regulate, and earn public trust. Unlike political science departments embedded in general universities, DHV Speyer brings an institution-wide focus on administrative law and governance practice — not just academic theory. For any project touching EU regulation, institutional reform, or public sector accountability, they offer a depth of specialisation that general-purpose universities cannot replicate.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EUTIP
  The largest project by funding (EUR 498,433) and an MSCA Innovative Training Network — indicating DHV Speyer was trusted to train the next generation of EU trade and investment policy researchers.
• TiGRE
  Tackles the politically salient question of why citizens trust or distrust regulatory authorities, making it directly relevant to current EU debates on democratic legitimacy and regulatory reform.