"With new challenges also at hand of mixed human migratory pattern, the call is loud and clear for India, Myanmar and Malaysia to equip themselves with more empathetic refugee and migrant policies and start to develop a national legislative framework that will protect asylum seekers, refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) based on international norms and regulations. Without the law, refugees lack legal status, lack basic human rights, and are vulnerable to exploitation. They are trafficked, subject to arbitrary arrest and detention, left destitute and homeless, and on top of it all, are vilified as ""illegal immigrants. Without the law there is no solution and refugees are left in indefinite limbo. For these reasons, the project will aim to push for the adoption in Partner Countries of a meaningful, comprehensive, domestic legal framework that is consistent with international standards and ensures refugees are actually protected. It will do so by: 1) Improving legal practitioners’ knowledge and expertise on International law and forced migration via the development and delivery of an LLM program to help them become competent in the implementation of the International and national refugee legislative framework in their Partner countries 2) Increasing the capacity of the academic staff of Partner HEIS and improve their level of competences and skills through the exchange of specialised knowledge on the subject area and through the development of a LLL Programme customized to their needs and needs of the 21st century and 3) Enriching the modernisation of Partner HEIs through the promotion of transnational cooperation in the field of international law and forced migration data analysis on domestic developmental concerns and by exchanging good practices in the subject area between EU, PC HEIs, legal practitioners, social actors, European and international refugee organisations and relevant policy makers."

The project Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia (CRISEA) brings together Southeast Asian (SEA) and European researchers with 3 objectives. 1. Research. Our previous research shows that SEA is open to multiple forces that drive regional integration through competition for resources and legitimacy. In the current crisis of legitimacy for globalisation, SEA's competing regional integrations present challenges for its people and for ASEAN's framework-building project. We analyse these in sectorally-themed work packages on 'arenas of competition': the environment, the economy, the State, the identity of SEA's people, and the Region. Using an interdisciplinary micro-macro method of analysis, we ask in each case how ASEAN-led regional integration is – and is seen by SEA's people as – part of the problem or part of the solution. CRISEA engages with the work programme's concern with "what ‘region’ means to the peoples of these countries within and beyond the ASEAN context". Closely aligned with the 2015 Joint Communication on EU-ASEAN relations, it enhances the EU's understanding of "the Asia-Pacific as a strategic region for Europe". 2. Policy relevance. CRISEA's research programme was developed for its relevance to EU policy on ASEAN and its member states. Its dissemination strategy innovates by creating mechanisms for dialogue with a targeted audience of policy makers, stakeholders and the public in Brussels and SEA, using briefing sessions, workshops, press coverage, film, public lectures and policy briefs. 3. Networking and capacity building for the European Research Area. Leveraging existing networks of EU-SEA cooperation – the unique EFEO network of 10 field centres in SEA, the IDEAS and SEATIDE projects, EUROSEAS, ASEF – we reinforce the ERA through coordinated academic exchange, joint research and results delivery. Our consortium engages western European and ASEAN scholars with emerging expertise in southern and eastern Europe.

Thailand & Myanmar are facing key social problems such as economic disparities, demographic challenges and educational gaps that hold back the countries´ development & advancement of its people. This has led to an increased interest in using social entrepreneurship (SE) to address some of the most pressing issues by delivering both social impact & economic benefit. Despite this wave of innovation, there is a lack in really disruptive ideas that create sustainable, yet profitable businesses. Higher Education institutions are in need of modernizing their physical infrastructure & upgrading of teaching capacities in order to be able to react to current educational developments & to develop future change makers. STEPup aims to transform existing social entrepreneurship practices and promote innovation in Thai & Burmese HEIs by integrating advanced learning tools for the creation of disruptive business ideas into existing academic structures, while strengthening the university-business collaboration through participatory schemes on a local and regional level. Expected results & impact envisioned:• Strengthened teaching staff capacities & student skill sets through innovative teaching & learning methodologies by offering SE trainings • Modernized technical infrastructure of Thai & Burmese HEIs by creating, equipping & putting in operation Social Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hubs• Enhanced HE-Enterprise cooperation and students learning experience by developing SE Case studies in cooperation with established social entrepreneurs, to prepare students for innovative thinking in “real life” contexts• Greater awareness and reach of high-quality training material & publications by providing access to Open Educational Resources to regional and international academic community• Extended networks in social entrepreneurship innovation in national & international HE contexts by joint publications and organising the International Conference on Innovative SE practices.