ABOUT THIS EPISODE
At the EAIE, we believe that advancing international higher education starts with empowering the people behind the ideas. Guided by this commitment, we were thrilled to announce our first round of EAIE Doctoral Research Grants winners in September 2025. The grants reflect our commitment to inspiring and uniting the community throughout the year—connecting professionals, policy-makers and scholars through ideas that matter. This initiative helps open doors to new voices, fresh insights and research that can shape a more inclusive and responsible future.
In this episode, which is part one of two, we meet three of the five EAIE Doctoral Research Grants winners. Eveke de Louw (The Hague University of Applied Sciences; University of Groningen), Stanislav Avdeev (University of Amsterdam), and Joel Christoph (European University Institute) join podcast host Laura Rumbley to introduce themselves and tell us more about their research projects. What sparked their interest in pursuing a doctoral degree, how do they expect their research to make an impact on actual practice within the field, and what are they hoping to achieve during this year of EAIE funding? Tune in to find out more!
About Eveke de Louw, Stanislav Avdeev, Joel Christoph
Eveke De Louw is an experienced internationalisation practitioner and an expert in curriculum internationalisation, with more than 20 years of experience. In her professional career at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Eveke has held key coordinating roles, including International Student Coordinator, Team Leader, and Senior International Officer. She has also chaired various committees and played a leading role in curriculum design projects. She is currently a researcher and academic developer on internationalisation of the home curriculum at the Centre of Expertise Global & Inclusive Learning of The Hague University of Applied Sciences. In this role, she executes action-research projects exploring the role of the academic discipline in curriculum internationalisation and supports programme teams through training and consultancy.
Stanislav Avdeev is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Amsterdam. As an empirical microeconomist with a strong interest in the economics of education and health, his research focuses on the quasi-experimental estimation of policy reforms using administrative and survey data. His advisors are Hessel Oosterbeek and Bas van der Klaauw.
Joel Christoph is a PhD Researcher in Economics at the European University Institute. His work examines how incentives and institutions can advance public goods, with current research focused on internationalisation in European higher education and the design of policies that align student mobility with inclusion and quality goals. He has contributed policy analysis and commentary to international outlets and collaborates with networks that connect research to practice. Joel works in several European languages, which supports engagement with diverse stakeholders across the European Higher Education Area. Through practitioner-facing initiatives, he helps translate evidence into practical tools for institutions and public bodies.
Additional resources
For further insights into the topics touched on in this episode, the following resources may be of interest:
→ EAIE Research Snapshot library
→ UNESCO World Higher Education Database (WHED)
→ OECD "Education at a Glance" reports
