The Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies is an interdisciplinary research centre of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. It has been founded in 2007 and was recognized as a KU Leuven Centre of Excellence in 2010. In 2016 GGS was recognized by the European Commission as a “Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe and the World”, a tremendous honour and European recognition of our work. In 2018 GGS kicked off RECONNECT, a large-scale Horizon 2020 project on ‘Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law’, as well as CONNECTIVITY, a six-year research programme on ‘Connectivity, Contestation and Cooperation in Global Governance’. GGS aims to make high-quality, fundamental and policy-relevant contributions to the study of globalization, global governance processes and multilateralism, with a particular focus on the role of the European Union. In full recognition of the complex issues involved, GGS approaches global governance from a multi-level and multi-actor perspective. GGS considers non-European perspectives to global governance of great importance. It hosts the EU-China Focus and the Leuven India Focus, organizes regularly transatlantic conferences and events focusing on Latin America and Asia, and takes a keen interest in the Global South.

In addition to its fundamental research, GGS carries out independent applied research and advises policy-makers on multilateral governance and global public policy issues. It regularly organizes conferences, seminars and debates on these issues, including a Euro-Asia Summer School and the International Law and Global Governance Summer School. GGS works with academic and policy partners from all over the world, including the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European External Action Service, the Committee of the Regions, the OECD, UNIDO, UNCTAD, the World Bank and the WTO. GGS also publishes the Leuven Global Governance Series with Edward Elgar Publishers and makes its research available through working papers, policy briefs and global governance opinions.