02.09.2026
Behind the Scenes of EU Projects: Gregor Cerinšek’s new book published by Routledge
What happens in European projects when we switch off the PowerPoint presentation, close the Excel spreadsheet, tick off all the deliverables – and head out for the project dinner?
Our colleague Dr Gregor Cerinšek, Head of the Department for Applied Social Science Research, has recently published the English edition of his book Behind the Scenes of EU Projects with Routledge. And, as he puts it himself, this is finally one result that did not require a deliverable, a timesheet, or approval from the Project Officer.
Now available in English, Behind the Scenes of EU Projects takes readers into the corners of European projects that official project documentation rarely reaches: the unwritten rules, social rituals, project performances, and the mysterious language of Lingua EU, in which words such as innovation, impact, and sustainability acquire a very particular meaning – or perhaps, through their sheer ubiquity, sometimes lose it altogether?
Drawing on more than 15 years of observing European projects from the inside, Gregor shows that project life is not made up solely of work packages, milestones, and KPIs. It is also a stage on which we perform, improvise, learn the rules of the game, and try to play our project roles as convincingly as possible.
The curtain has been raised. Enjoy the read!