The aim of this project is to show how popular religious practices and texts subvert a range of powerful knowledges and techniques that attempt to fix religious identity. In the context of the region of Punjab spanning India and Pakistan, as well as in Britain, the religious identities Hindu, Sikh and Muslim are ostensibly treated as separate traditions with their own unique practices of worship and textual sources. This perspective is supported by the state ideologies of India, Pakistan and the UK which, in requiring religious distinction, rely upon tools of enumeration and labeling to perpetuate religious difference. The census and the labels used to define 'religous minorities,' for instance, are examples of such tools. However, viewing these identities from the perspective of ritual practices at places of worship in Punjab reveals a range of syncretic and boundary crossing formations. In particular, it is women and low caste groups who are more engaged and enabled in carrying out these practices through their marginal gender and caste positions. In some senses, it could be argued, they are less invested in fixed religious identities. \n\nOur intention is to specifically examine how gender and caste contribute to the framing of religious experience in terms of the practices of worshippers at sites which are ostensibly labelled as Muslim, Hindu and Sikh in East and West Punjab. The region of Punjab is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, the partition of colonial India in 1947 led to the mass expulsion of Muslims from East Punjab and a similar movement of Hindus and Sikhs from West Punjab. The modern nation states of India and Pakistan were forged in through a 'religious cleansing' process in which an Islamic republic of Pakistan and a 'secular' India were formed. In both states the boundaries of the identities Hindu and Muslim became increasingly pronounced. However, despite state sponsored technologies of difference, common places of worship such as the tombs of saints, or pirs, and Gurdwaras are sustained as sites of syncretic practice and boundary crossing. \n\nOur hypothesis is that women and marginal caste groups in Punjab, over time, have been the least invested in fixed religious identities, despite their co-option in political mobilisations. Further to this, their participation in more popular religious forms offers an important insight into how gender and caste shape the experiences of religious practice while also undermining or reworking centrally-defined religious identities through `popular' means. We also argue that gender and caste shape what is mainstream or orthodox and what is seen as syncretic and marginal. \n\nThis is an interdisciplinary project which will engage in literature from religious studies, sociology, anthropology and textual criticism. This will result in the use of plural methods. The research will involve ethnographic fieldwork in six sites ostensibly marked as Hindu, Muslim and Sikh. Interviews will be undertaken to establish patterns of religious worship, ensuring a balance in terms of our interest in gender and caste. The project will also collect 'biographies of worship' in the form of diaries which will offer in-depth insights into rituals and reference points, with a specific interest in how gender and caste mark people's religious experience. Uniquely, the project will also span two nation states and will therefore be able to explore the impact that different state ideologies have on similarly marked spaces, for example a Gurdwara in India and another in Pakistan. Once this analysis is completed, the implications of this practice in the context of the Punjabi diaspora where sites for worship are limited will also be posed in the dissemination dimension of the project. \n\nThis is a collaboration between scholars in the UK and South Asia with direct involvement of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan and Punjabi University in India.

With a high unemployment rate amongst university graduates in Pakistan and the expectation that this number is likely going to rise (IMF, World Economic Outlook, 2018) there is a need for systematically supporting entrepreneurial activities from students and recent graduates in order to create jobs for themselves and others. Although there are studies that suggest that entrepreneurial support structures at Pakistani universities are likely to increase the entrepreneurial intentions of students in the future, reports also show over 64% of the student startups do not perceive Pakistani universities to support the spirit of collaboration and entrepreneurship. Over 65% wish more support through proper coaching, over 79% wish more feedback on ideas and over 50% wish proper mentoring. And this is where TAKE-UP steps in and wants to significantly improve on the entrepreneurial cultures of the partner universities in Pakistan and transform them into role models for Pakistani universities. TAKE-UP wants to utilize expertise and capacity already present in Pakistan by including a diverse group of partners, extending their knowledge by adding value through European partners who can provide all universities with additional perspectives and expertise, and generate knowledge that can be transferred to non-partner universities in Pakistan. In particular, TAKE-UP wants to focus on the capacity building of (associated) staff members of business incubation centers and faculty members, as these play a crucial role in the motivation, development, and sustainability of business ideas at the HEIs and equip universities with necessary tools to facilitate the work of these incubation centers (i.e. FabLabs). Activities in the project are designed in a way that a holistic approach is taken to create a broad understanding of being an entrepreneurial university, so that our capacity building effort has a sustainable effect on the institutions.

INTEGRA aims at responding to the limited participation of young refugees from conflict affected countries to the higher education system of India & Pakistan by introducing an innovative methodology that will allow them to overcome the obstacles they currently face. This will be accomplished by combining a short-term ICT course for youth with migrant background, based on the expectations of the ICT labour market in these countries, along with the establishment of 4 psychosocial support structures (1 per HEI), which will provide personalised psychosocial support. By bringing young refugees closer to the higher education system in India and Pakistan, the ambition of the project is to facilitate their full integration in these countries by attending higher education courses and/or by entering the labour market and especially the ICT sector, which is one of the main economic activities in this Region.Main outputs of INTEGRA include: a) a 1-year accredited ICT course including different programmes & modules, based on the state-of-art analysis; b) the establishment of 4 psychosocial support structures providing personalized support to young refugees. The project involves also a comprehensive capacity building programme for tutors and professionals for the structures, along with a pilot delivery of the services developed. INTEGRA’s main expected results are:- HEIs in Partner Countries are enhanced in terms of capacities, new services and tools, in order to respond to the needs of refugee youth in their pursue of utilizing higher education and HEIs for social & economic integration- Young refugees from conflict affected countries are brought closer to higher education and HEIs in India and Pakistan, while also have their ICT skills built and psychosocial traumas treatedThe envisaged impact of INTEGRA is to foster the integration of young refugees in India & Pakistan by empowering HEIs in those countries in attracting this target group and serving effectively its needs.

Newspapers nowadays almost daily report on security breaches, compromised personal information, and cybercriminal activities, and no country is immune from cyberattacks (Symantec Report, 2019). Pakistan is not immune to these attacks and becoming an increasing target of cybercriminal activities, as many companies and the government are increasing their presence in the cyberspace. That is why cybersecurity currently is one of the most important domains within computer science. With considerable delay, the Pakistani government has expanded its digital agenda to prioritize the issue of cybersecurity, as there is great shortage of expertise in this field in Pakistan. This shortage is the result of a lacking university-enterprise collaboration in the domain of cybersecurity, especially due to a lack of employability of many of Pakistans cybersecurity graduates, as, amongst technical aspects, there is a lack of interdisciplinary perspectives on cybersecurity in Pakistan, especially in the domain of human factors. To strengthen the links of HEIs to the industry in the domain of cybersecurity and increase the employability of IT students, it is necessary to have a holistic approach to cybersecurity. And this is where ReCyP:HER steps in by addressing cybersecurity training issues in university degree programs and making them more immersive and experience-based, building capacity in the domain of human factors in cybersecurity by upskilling psychologists in Pakistan as well as establishing interdisciplinary formats directly targeted at IT students, enabling Pakistani partner universities to stretch out their arms to the industry by creating a platform on which the industry delivers input for university students to solve real-world problems and lastly creating a cybersecurity awareness center that serves as a training and exploration facility for students, IT experts from the industry, freelance workers, and the average Pakistani public alike, creating a secure society.

Many communities in developing regions suffer disproportionately from energy poverty and the effects of climate change. Females in these communities face additional threats, including exposure to harmful cooking emissions. LoCEL-H2 will address underlying causes of these issues by providing renewable, cost-effective, plug-n-play, and sustainable provision of electrical energy and access to clean fuels. Our integrated prosumer renewable energy solution will be developed in harmony with local communities’ needs; our SSH team will evaluate critical socioeconomic factors for use in system development and future rollout. It is our ambition to provide operational training for deployment communities and future local partners. LoCEL-H2 features three impressive technical innovations: 1) a unique, low-cost, hydrogen-based energy solution, the Battolyser, 2) a novel battery technology, with high performance and excellent circularity, 3) a decentralized, peer-to-peer, prosumer microgrid designed holistically to facilitate sustainable rollout. Following system-level integration & validation (via a virtual pilot and a pre-pilot in Asia at TRL-7), the LoCEL-H2 team will deploy two full-scale TRL-8 pilots in Africa (Côte d'Ivoire and Zambia), including physical, digital, and social tools, achieving TRL-8 by the end of the current project. Our team’s existing commercial networks—Asian and African—will enable the further post-project commercial rollout of LoCEL-H2, boosting European export potential in sustainable energy solutions.