Iveri Kekenadze Gustafsson

Iveri Kekenadze Gustafsson (he/him) is a PhD candidate in European Studies at Lund University and International Officer at the Malmö Academy of Music. His research examines the process of EU enlargement, focusing on the shift from progress to stagnation and on how enlargement is shaped relationally between candidate countries and EU institutions. He develops a mid-range theoretical framework of “Double Disappointment,” investigating why EU enlargement repeatedly stalls as mutual breakdowns in trust and commitment occur across different actor levels, leading to spirals of disappointment in the accession process.

In addition to his doctoral research, he teaches on EU institutions and governance, and project management courses, and contributes to internationalisation and quality enhancement in higher music education. He is actively involved in global collaborations and Erasmus+ projects, and has forthcoming research stays at the University of Toronto, the University of Sydney, and CEPS in Brussels. His broader academic interests span European integration, democratic resilience, internationalisation of higher education, and the role of culture in EU external relations.