Introduction

In the introduction to this book the editors briefly describe the special position of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency as an institution embedded within the EU, and mandated to provide evidence-based policy advice on human rights. This is an unusual combination, since human rights research and advocacy usually are carried out by non-state actors. Another specific feature of FRA is that in its research it combines methods from law and social sciences. The Introduction also mentions five recurring themes that arise in the chapters of the book, and that are further discussed in the final chapter. These themes are: struggles over FRA’s mandate; conflicts that may arise with embedded research; questions posed by technocratic research that also aims at developing solutions for policy problems; the question of who sets FRA’s research agenda; and, finally, what it means to do research on human rights within a highly diverse Europe. Furthermore, the contributors to the book are introduced and a brief outline of each chapter is given.