Chronic diseases (CD) are the cause of 70% of all global deaths. Organ transplantation (tx) is the only treatment with long term perspectives for patients who suffer from end stage organ failure (ESOF), induced mostly by CD. Asia has the lowest rate of organ tx and the greatest growth rate of people entering chronic and ESOF. A recent analysis shows that education is one of the drivers to improve the number of well-trained specialists, and thus the delivery of care to patients with ESOF. ODISSeA proposes suitably adapted and accredited postgraduate curricula in organ donation for specialists. The program will start with a preliminary Training for trainers’ program for future local trainers to ensure the efficient implementation of the postgraduate program in their universities during and after the project lifecycle. Together with a pool of 40 future students and EU experts they will design, validate and develop the Postgraduate Training Program in Organ Donation (30 ECTS) based on a student centred lifelong learning strategy. The program will include face to face and online components, on three levels of difficulty, from level 1 (basics/awareness) consisting of multimedia educational capsules, motion graphics & storytelling, to level 2 (medium), with webinars to boost debates and engage participants, and finally, level 3 (advanced/high), where participants will be encouraged to continue with in-depth online interactive modules (self-training) and local seminars.On-the-job improvement projects will help them apply the knowledge & skills acquired to their professional contexts and propose improving plans with measurable outcomes. The project will involve different stakeholders to maximize impact on HEI systems in SEA, on direct program beneficiaries: 40 trainers, 280 students, 400 attendees in the informative events as well as indirect ones: patients, work peers, hospitals, organ donation systems, with the ultimate goal of improving the delivery of care to patients

The PANDASIA project addresses the call by providing a framework that will increase our understanding of the biology of viruses with emerging infectious disease potential and their interaction with humans, animals and the environment and translating this understanding into proactive preventative actions. Such research is crucial for providing evidence-based knowledge and tools for better integrative public health measures for local and national actors. We will develop models to identify and predict drivers of disease emergence, which will be evaluated with real world data, refined and used to develop health and pandemic literacy intervention strategies that reduce risk of future viral emergence, thereby reducing the burden of zoonotic spillover to human health. Since pandemics arise at a local level it is important to engage with local communities and health, environment and agriculture authorities to improve their health and pandemic literacy to ensure adequate preparedness and vigilance for future spillover events and human, animal and environmental health threats. Understanding spillover dynamics and threats at local levels in emerging disease hotspot areas, such as Southeast Asia, is important for the European Union to improve preparedness and the ability to respond quickly to health emergencies and cross-border threats. The identified drivers are likely generalizable to other emerging infectious disease hotspots in the region and if successfully implemented in SE Asia could be adapted to other hotspot regions, such as in South America and Africa.

Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, Europe continues to be a major destination for transnational migrants, notably from Asia and Africa. The way in which this phenomenon has been unfolding underlines the urgent need to further conceptualise transnational migration by analysing the decision-making of aspiring (re)migrants. This scholarly enterprise is critically important as mainstream migration theories put more of a focus on broader social processes and dynamics, thereby overlooking the human aspects of migration. Basing itself on several migration theories in various disciplines, this proposal adopts a framework that humanises research on (non-)migration decision-making, i.e. highlighting its human aspects in three ways: engendering, decolonising and situating the analysis in temporal, psychological, relational and social contexts. As a case study, this research project will examine the decision-making of aspiring (re)migrants from selected Southeast and East Asian countries (China, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) to and within selected EU member countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Finland). These migrants are oriented towards the EU labour markets where they are concentrated in ethnic niches. Employing qualitative and participatory research methodologies, the study will map the extent to which spatial mobility policies at the EU and national levels take into account aspiring (re)migrants’ behaviour, identify the micro- and meso-level drivers of (re)migration aspiration and/or intention and determine the temporality of aspiring (re)migrants’ decision-making. The results of this project will provide concrete information as to how individuals’ migration decisions change over time and on the specific stage at which mobility policies are more likely to play a role in shaping migration outcomes, which will enhance EU migration policies.