Horizon 2020 – Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia (project manager: dr Tomasz Kamiński)
Department of Asian Studies is a partner in an international consortium implementing a grant from the Framework Program of the European Commission Horizon 2020. Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia (CRISEA) project was granted in June in the competition „Regional integration in Southeast Asia and its consequences for Europe”.
The consortium is composed of 13 entities. It’s leader is the French Far East School (Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient), and the other members are European and Asian universities and research institutions such as: Cambridge University, Oslo University, Hamburg University, Institute of Social Sciences in Portugal, University of Oriental Studies in Naples, Chiang Mai University (Thailand), Center for Strategic and International Studies (Indonesia), Malaya University (Philippines), Mandalay University (Myanmar), Academy of Social Sciences in Vietnam. All units involved in the project deal with the issues related to East and Southeast Asia.
The consortium received 2.5 million € for the project realization, including the University of Lodz which got 120,000 €. Research will take 36 months.
The major research problem of the project is to find an answers to the questions: how can Southeast Asia be transformed into a strategic region for the European Union? What are the threats, problems and opportunities resulting from cooperation with this dynamically developing region.
The other research goals have been defined very broadly. These are issues related to integration models in Southeast Asia and the consequences for Europe in the connection to the integration processes occuring in Asia. The consortium participants will indicate the main trends of changes which take place in the crucial organization in the region – ASEAN, as well as analyze the role of diplomatic institutions in the process of communication between regions.
Project covers five research areas. The first is The Environment, the second – The Economy, the third – The State, the fourth – The Identity and the fifth is The Region. In addition, two other groups will deal with the dissemination of research results and project management. Members of Department of Asian Studies are engaged in two Work Packages; Tomasz Kamiński, Ph.D. and Michał Zaręba, Ph.D. – The Environment: Securing the Commons; prof. Małgorzata Pietrasiak and prof. Dominik Mierzejewski – The Region: ASEAN’s Contested Centrality.
Official website of the project: www.crisea.eu