#	Pagina
attuale pagina	/open-h2020/projects/212381/results.html

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEnECA (Strengthening and Energizing EU-Central Asia relations)

Teaser

Summary

The relations to Central Asia are an important element of the changing geopolitical setting the EU has been facing for some years now. They are influenced by the role of the rest of Asia and other world powers play in the region, which the EU has to take into consideration while focusing on its comparative advantages. Therefore, SEnECAâ€™s overall aim is to strengthen and energize the relations between the EU and Central Asia during its two-year-duration and beyond. To achieve this, the consortium, including all five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), undertakes various activities as designed in its three thematic work packages: WP1 builds a sustainable, transdisciplinary network to link European and Central Asian researchers and to thus improve research cooperation on EU-Central Asia relations; WP2 maps and analyses the current state of EU-Central Asia relations and on this basis gives recommendations on how to improve the EUâ€™s policy towards Central Asia; WP3 is dedicated to draw public attention to EU-Central Asia relations and to promote the importance of Central Asia to Europe among scholars, policy-makers, stakeholders in education, media, civil society and the public sphere.

Work performed

SEnECA has been designed to maximise its impact with regard to three groups of addressees so far successfully: researchers (research), policy-makers and stakeholders (politics) as well as media, citizens, key actors in education and the wider public (society). For all of these groups SEnECA has seeked to increase connectivity by linking relevant actors, to improve policies activities by defining (new) priorities and giving recommendations, to increase awareness of Central Asia by promoting its importance to EU policy-makers and other stakeholders as well as the wider public and to strengthen capacities in research and higher education in Central Asia.

Impact in research:
SEnECA has established the SEnECA Research Network including European researchers working on Central Asia and Central Asian researchers in European Studies to achieve impact in the research and higher education sector. Ever since the SEnECA Research Network serves as a long-term platform to link researchers, this will facilitate future scientific cooperation and advise policy-makers on improving the EUâ€™s research policy, has raisen awareness for the importance of its research objects in both regions and will contribute to the strengthening of research capacities in the region.
The high number of researchers included in the SEnECA Research Database (344 by the end of 2018) forms an excellent basis for the SEnECA Research Network. It will continue to grow bringing together members of the network. They have also been brought together at the SEnECA events during 2018 to meet in person. In between events, the SEnECA website and its social media channels has operated as the projectâ€™s communication platforms.

Impact in politics:
By increasing the receptiveness of decision-makers and stakeholders and underlining the concrete relevance of Central Asia to EU politics, SEnECA raises awareness for EUâ€™s Central Asia policy. Linking the SEnECA Research Network with the SEnECA Stakeholder Network gives policy-makers access to analysis and policy advice capacities also in a long-term perspective. In total, 521 stakeholders were identified. Among these were 143 national policy-makers, 66 representatives of EU bodies and agencies, 63 business and private sector representatives, 43 representatives of international organisations and programmes, 173 civil society representatives and 33 media representatives. Based on SEnECAâ€™s inclusive approach to demand-driven policy advice, it has exchanged views with all stakeholders constantly by interviewing them, gathering their input to the project activities and inviting them to SEnECA events. The EU Special Representative for Central Asia e.g. participated in the SEnECA Conferences in Riga (April 2018) and Almaty (January 2019).

Impact in society:
The project connects the SEnECA Research Network and the SEnECA Stakeholder Network with journalists, media and civil society actors that function as multipliers to promote the relevance of Central Asia among EU citizens. To achieve impact and raise awareness for Central Asia in the wider public, the SEnECA Communication Plan (D3.1) was developed to improve the communication on Central Asia. Reaching out to media and the wider public is facilitated through SEnECAâ€™s corporate identity (e.g. the project logo on all publications) and also the fact, that the project website in available in Russian and thus understandable for more recipients. Overall, numerous news were published on the website. Furthermore, nine mapping papers (phase 1) were set up that describe the current relations between the five Central Asian states and the EU (on the supranational level but also especially Latvia, Finland, Italy, Poland, Germany and France), other Asian states (India, Japan, Iran, Turkey and South Korea) and other world powers such as Russia, the United States of America and China. The mapping process was conducted by a literature review and especially focused on political and security relations,

Final results

At the end of the two-year-project twelve consortium members from think tanks, universities and NGOS in Europe and all Central Asia republics will build on their Trans-European and Central Asian network with research institutions in 41 European, Central Asian and other Asian countries. Through its activities, SEnECA will have mapped existing networks of researchers of Central Asian Studies in Europe and European Studies in Central Asia and key actors in education and media active in EU-Central Asia relations to analyse research cooperation, policies and communication on Central Asia forming the basis for EU priorities and new forms of cooperation based on an inclusive approach to EU policy-makers and stakeholders active in EU-Central Asia relations.