For international follow-up and competitiveness, the quality of a country's education is central. The teacher education inSouth Asia is far behind that of developed countries, hence, also the educational quality in the schools of thesecountries is poor:The overall aim of CONTESSA consists in the improvement of the educational situation in Cambodia and Sri Lanka. Inthis project concrete didactic programmes teachers need to appropriate contemporary skill sets and to be equippedwith the didactic competences for 21st century are elaborated. CONTESSA provides a three step programme aiming atthe professional development of a continuum of teacher education for:1) Teacher educators: A comprehensive train the trainer programme for higher education didactics is worked out.2) Teacher students: An online-based learning programme for the acquisition of 21st century teaching skills is accessibleon an OER platform.3) In-service teachers: The online-modules are offered to in-service teachers for further education measures as well as forthe training of teachers without pedagogic formation.To ensure broad accessibility and usability, the didactic programmes will be translated into Khmer, Singhalese andTamil. Ethnic and country-specific requirements and adaptations are made.IMPACTS:- Delivering a ‘step-change’ in the development of critical skills, knowledge and competences to provide the foundations for participation in work and society.- Improving the transition of learners at critical stages in the education and training system.- Increasing the use of ICT in teaching and learning as flexible learning paths for individual development.Ł- Improving the learning experience and the success of learners: Increase the quality of Early Years to deliver a better learning experience for young children.- Improving the progress of learners at risk of educational disadvantage or learners with special educational needs.

South Asians, who represent one-quarter of the world’s population, are at high risk of type-2 diabetes (T2D). Intensive lifestyle modification (healthy diet and physical activity) is effective at preventing T2D amongst South Asians with impaired glucose tolerance, but this approach is limited by high-cost, poor scalability and low impact on T2D burden. We will complete a cluster-randomised clinical trial at 120 locations across India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK. We will compare family-based intensive lifestyle modification (22 health promotion sessions from a community health worker, active group, N=60 sites) vs usual care (1 session, control group, N=60 sites) for prevention of T2D, amongst 3,600 non-diabetic South Asian men and women with central obesity (waist≥100cm) and/or prediabetes (HbA1c≥6.0%). Participants will be followed annually for 3 years. The primary endpoint will be new-onset T2D (physician diagnosis on treatment or HbA1c≥6.0%, predicted N~734 over 3 years). Secondary endpoints will include waist and weight in the index case and family members. Our study has 80% power to identify a reduction in T2D risk with family-based intervention vs usual care of: 30% in South Asians with central obesity; 24% in South Asians with prediabetes; and 24% overall. Health economic evaluation will determine cost-effectiveness of family based lifestyle modification for prevention of T2D amongst South Asians with central obesity and / or prediabetes. The impact of gender and socio-economic factors on clinical utility and cost-effectiveness will be investigated. Our results will determine whether screening by waist circumference and/or HbA1c, coupled with intervention by family-based lifestyle modification, is an efficient, effective and equitable strategy for prevention of T2D in South Asians. Our findings will thereby provide a robust evidence base for scalable community-wide approaches to reverse the epidemic of T2D amongst the >1.5 billion South Asians worldwide.

Following a disaster and conflict-induced displacement, a community will undergo resettlement as a process of recovery comprising efforts to restore the displaced community’s equilibrium level. A sudden change in the pattern of interaction with the built environment (BE) would have an immediate effect on the stability of the host community. Consequently, both the communities will suffer stress in adapting to the new BE. In such a context, the BE can play a vital role in addressing the needs of both communities and enhancing the social cohesion between the displaced and host communities. In order to play this vital role, such BE needs to be planned, designed, constructed, and maintained by competent BE professionals. However, this BE perspective of post-disaster and conflict-induced displacement has less academic engagement and is seldom addressed in policies. Addressing this need, the REGARD Project aimed to develop competencies in rebuilding communities following a disaster and conflict-induced mass displacements from the perspective of the BE. In achieving this aim the following objectives had been set out. • To identify the needs of the displaced and host communities • To investigate the role of the BE in enhancing social cohesion between host and displaced communities • To explore the knowledge, skills and competencies required by the BE professionals to address the needs of the host and displaced communities • To develop, test and implement an innovative series of training courses in catering for the needs of the communities • To develop associated curricula and resources for teachers and learners • To introduce new uses of ICT in education by formulating technology-enhanced learning environments and materials to facilitate teaching and learning • To propose policy recommendations to BE professional bodies in upgrading the professional competencies to address the needs of the host and displaced communities In achieving these objectives, the REGARD project started the research process by identifying the needs of the host and displaced communities (output 1). Then the project investigated the role of the BE in addressing these identified needs of the displaced and host communities and produced a synthesis report as the second output. Afterwards, the project identified the best practices of rebuilding host and displaced communities and developed a guidance note with recommendations and best practices of rebuilding communities as the third output. Then the project investigated the competencies required by the BE professionals in order to play this vital role of BE in rebuilding communities and enhancing social cohesion between these communities. This competency framework was the fourth output of the project. The outputs discussed above benefit not only for theory but also to the practice. Afterwards, as the fifth output, the project partners developed an online training course: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) on the knowledge hub platform to develop the competencies of the BE professionals as well as for the professionals who are working in the displacement context. Course handbook and the training materials are developed for this virtual training environment as the sixth output. Through this resourceful virtual learning environment, the project tries to address the knowledge gaps of the professionals and help to improve their competencies. Then the project conducted a competency audit identifying the gaps between the existing competencies identified by the BE professional bodies in the UK, Sweden, Estonia and Srilanka and compared with the identified competencies. Based on this competency audit, the project also informed policy recommendations to BE professional bodies in upgrading the professional competencies to address the needs of the host and displaced communities. This eighth output informs the policy and is helpful for national and local governments, international organisations, non-profit organisations and BE professional bodies to understand the issues related to rebuilding displaced communities. Disseminating these project findings number of conference and journal papers were published (Output 9) and a journal special issue on ‘rebuilding communities after forced displacement is published (Output 10). Apart from that, two stakeholder seminars and a research symposium were conducted to disseminate the findings of the above outputs. The project findings were also presented and project posters were displayed at a number of international conferences held face to face as well as online. In this way, the project team made an impact on the target audience. Apart from that, the REGARD project website with the project results can be accessed by the project stakeholders and general public all around the world. Therefore, with its 8372 unique visitors and 254837 website hits, it can be said the project has a huge impact on the international level.

The effects of the climate change will have devastating effects on the vulnerable coastal built environment as it has the ability of inundating the existing built environment due to direct threats to properties, infrastructures, coastal industries, coastal and marine ecosystems. Furthermore, coastal areas are known to highly populated due to urban centres being located near the coastal belts further increases the predicament. In light of this there is a vital necessity to develop tangible climate adaptation measures in the coastal built environments. However, there is a significant knowledge gap in relation to effective responses and adaptation measures to climate change impacts within the built environment as a whole as well as the construction and property industries. In addressing this it is essential to upgrade the knowledge and skills of the built environment professionals as they will be lead roles in this climate change adaptation process. In light of this the project aims to develop trans-disciplinary and innovative research-based learning in the built environment to tackle climate change in coastal regions and the following objectives have been set out. • To identify climate change impact on the built environment in coastal regions• To develop a coherent framework for integrating the requirements of the Paris Agreement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) in the context of the impact of climate change on the built environment in coastal regions• To recognise the opportunities for climate adaptation in the coastal built environment in line with the coherent framework• To understand skills gaps in climate adaptation in the built environment to tackle climate change in coastal regions • To develop a trans-disciplinary and innovative research-based learning to improve competencies in climate change adaptation in the built environment in coastal regions In terms of outputs, BEACON will first conduct a review of the climate change impact on the coastal built environment (O1). Based on the themes identified as part of O1, it will then draft the synthesis report on opportunities and constraints for integrating the requirements of the Paris Agreement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) in the context of built environment in coastal regions (O2). Opportunities and constraints identified as part of O2 will provide the basis for the development of a comprehensive framework for climate change adaptation in design, construction and retrofitting aligning with SDGs and SFDRR (O3). This framework will be beneficial for built environment professionals, clients, and policy makers in applying integrated and coherent adaptation measures during different phases of construction and retrofitting cycles. Furthermore, a guidance notes with case studies and good practices on implementing local adaptation strategies in the built environment in coastal regions will be developed (O5). BEACON will also identify the role of the built environment stakeholders in climate change adaptation in the built environment (O4) and associated skill gaps and mismatches will be evaluated (O6). Built environment professionals have to be well informed and capable enough to tackle climate change in coastal regions. Thus, it is important to identify the knowledge, skills and competencies to tackle climate change in coastal regions. The project intends to develop a trans-disciplinary and innovative research-based learning platform in the built environment to tackle climate change in coastal regions and the proposed competency framework (O7) will provide basis for the development of curricular of the proposed learning platform (O8). All these outputs will be developed through a rigorous scientific process and will directly contribute to the scientific theory of the domain. Based on these outputs, it is intended to produce a number of conference and journal papers and a journal special issue which will further enhance the knowledge-base. The output discussed above will not only benefit theory but due to the importance of the subject matter within Europe and beyond, it will provide an important contribution to the practice in tackling climate change in the built environment in coastal regions. It will further support in enhancing the knowledge-base of built environment professionals through a development of a trans-disciplinary and innovative research-based learning in the built environment.These outputs will inform policy and will provide direct input towards national and local governments, international organisations, non-profit organisations and built environment professional bodies to understand the issues related to climate change adaptation in the built environment in coastal regions.