The dramatic upsurge during the 2000s of Chinese investment (both public and private) in sub-Saharan Africa has sparked much discussion and controversy about its development impact. However, despite some recent advances in research, concrete evidence on this impact has remained limited. This research will focus specifically on gathering concrete information on the employment effects of such investment. But this research will not confine itself to examining just Chinese FDI. It will also investigate the impact of the much broader category of what are called 'Chinese overseas contracted projects'. These initiatives, which include Chinese aid, have grown exponentially in recent years, and have often taken the form of construction projects. In order to gauge the employment effects of such initiatives, firm-level and worker-focused surveys will be conducted in two sectors, construction and manufacturing, in two countries where such Chinese investment has been substantial, i.e., Angola and Ethiopia. Though Chinese firms have created more employment in construction in both countries, the recent increase in Chinese investment in manufacturing is particularly important because it could portend significant increases in higher-productivity jobs, which are in short supply throughout sub-Saharan Africa. This research will assess the impact of Chinese investment in three specific areas: the employment, working conditions and skill development of national workers. Worker-level interviews will be important to the project because they will enable researchers to develop a more dynamic picture of the employment conditions of national workers. For example, the workers interviewed will be asked about their previous employment so that comparisons can be drawn with their current conditions in Chinese firms. Moreover, such worker-level interviews will be utilized to identify workers who have left Chinese firms in order to secure new jobs in national firms or in self-employment. Such workers will subsequently be interviewed in order to determine whether their employment in Chinese firms was a springboard for improved future employment. Of particular concern will be the effect of employment in Chinese firms on training and general skill development. This research project will also seek to compare employment conditions in Chinese firms in sub-Saharan Africa to the employment conditions of Chinese workers themselves in similar firms in China. This research will be carried out by both researchers in China and researchers in the United Kingdom who are China specialists. But this aspect of the project's research will not be based on new surveys but on the gathering of all relevant available material on labour conditions in China and especially their recent evolution. Of particular concern will be the effect of recent trends in employment conditions and any changes in the policy of the Chinese government that could have influenced the conduct of Chinese firms investing in sub-Saharan Africa. The intent of this research project is to have an important impact on the character of the ongoing debate on the development impact of Chinese firms located in sub-Saharan Africa. Particularly important will be the effect of our results on the policy stance of governments and regional development organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. But also one of the project's major objectives is to influence the character of the broader debate within the international development community on the employment effects of development cooperation, particularly within the context of the efforts to frame a new and more effective global post-2015 development agenda.

GLOBUS critically assesses the EU’s impact on justice in a global system characterised by uncertainty, risk and ambiguity. GLOBUS defines a new research agenda for the study of the EU’s global role. This agenda directs attention to underlying political and structural challenges to global justice that are prior to the distributive problem, as well as to the fact that what is just is contested both by theorists and policy makers. GLOBUS provides in depth knowledge of how the EU proceeds to promote justice within the specific fields of climate change, trade, development, asylum/migration and security while also speaking to the key horizontal issues of gender and human rights within each of these fields. Rather than focusing on a single dimension GLOBUS develops three different conceptions of justice. This nuanced conceptual scheme allows GLOBUS to address the multifaceted challenge of justice, and to specify the EU’s real impact. GLOBUS takes heed of the reality of “the foreign will” through intense engagement with partners outside Europe. This provides a ‘reality check’ of the limits and potential for the EU’s future place in a multi-polar order. The three conceptions of justice as non-dominance, as impartiality and as mutual recognition all have limitations as they prioritise some challenges to global justice over others. These limitations are important in order to empirically discern inhibiting factors for global political justice– such as power, unequal competences and the prevailing ‘system of states’ – as well as in order to specify how the EU contributes to justice. In order to develop a feasible model of justice promotion, we return to theory when data is collected and revise and amend the analytical model. We further factor in the viewpoints and experience of practitioners and stakeholders, GLOBUS provides policy-relevant recommendations that take into consideration ideal requirements while at the same time not losing sight of the realities of power.

The CIPnet project is a Joint Action to be implemented in China. Its general objective is to promote the modernisation and harmonisation of Intellectual Property Management practices in the higher education system in China, with a view to enhance university-industry collaborations and contribute to economic and social development.The CIPnet consortium identified several deficiencies in the Universities’ TT and IP management performance in China such as low levels of entrepreneurial attitude, shortage of TT skills, inadequate IP protection, low industry-academia engagement and mismatch between the needs of the firms and the university research results. In this context CIPnet present an innovative proposal to improve the TT&IP system based on a network with a bottom-up approach. The project specific objective is to establish a National HE IP Network as a learning platform to foster the modernisation, harmonisation and strategic planning of IP Management practices and regional integration in HE of China.The CIPnet activities implemented by 7 CN HEIs & 3 EU HEIs with a long-standing tradition on IPR & TT issues (as partners) with a series of key actors on IP field (as associates), will include:- Benchmarking & needs analysis activities will identify good practices on IP services and strategies in CN and EU HEIs, providing a good insight of the situation of the China HEIs in terms of the level of IP awareness and creating a database of IP experts in China.- CB on TT&IP management, via face-to-face and on-line workshops that trainees will adapt for the implementation of the IP replication workshops. - Creation of a National HE IP Management Network with a strong networking focus.- An ambitious dissemination and exploitation strategy of the network fostering that new members join the network, contributing to the development of modern IP management policies for HEIs in CN and widening the impact and exploitation of the project results beyond the consortium.