The relations to Central Asia are an important element of the changing transatlantic and geopolitical setting the EU is currently facing. They are influenced by the role the rest of Asia and other world powers play in the region, which the EU has to take into consideration while focusing on its comparative advantages. The main objectives of SEnECA are to strengthen and energize EU-Central Asia relations by establishing a sustainable, transdisciplinary SEnECA Research Network and the SEnECA Stakeholder Network to link European and Central Asian researchers, policy makers and stakeholders in order to improve research cooperation to develop a common SEnECA Agenda for Future Research Cooperation and EU’s Central Asia policy by setting up the SEnECA Policy Roadmap. The SEnECA Communication Plan for dissemination and awareness-raising will promote the importance of Central Asia to Europe among scholars, policy-makers, stakeholders in education, media, civil society and the EU public sphere notably through the SEnECA Exhibition. SEnECA will thus ultimately strengthen capacities in research and policy advice through the SEnECA Academic Policy Advice Training. Within two years, twelve consortium members from think tanks, universities and NGOs in Europe and Central Asia build on their Trans-European and Central Asian network with research institutions in 41 European, Central Asian and other Asian countries. Through its activities, SEnECA maps existing networks of researchers of Central Asian Studies in Europe and European Studies in Central Asia and key actors in education and media active in EU-Central Asia relations to analyse research cooperation, policies and communication on Central Asia to set up the SEnECA Research Database which forms the basis for recommending priorities and new forms of scientific cooperation following the “blended research” approach and demand-driven policy advice based on an inclusive approach to EU policy-makers and stakeholders active in EU-Central Asia relations.

“HOW CAN THE EU INVIGORATE ITS ENLARGEMENT AND NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY TO ENHANCE EUROPE’S RESILIENCE?”. InvigoratEU aims at finding answers to this question by pursuing three overarching goals: Our first goal is (1) to investigate HOW TO REFORM the EU’s enlargement strategy in a new geopolitical phase, HOW TO RESPOND to other actors’ geopolitical ambitions in the Eastern Neighbourhood and Western Balkans, and HOW TO REBUILD the EU’s foreign policy arsenal in view of a new era of military threats (triple “R” approach) combining the modernisation and geopolitical logics of EU enlargement, leading to new data – e.g. a public opinion survey in Ukraine, a set of scenarios, an external influence index (Russia, China, Turkey), and a social policy compliance and cohesion scoreboard. Our second goal is (2) to elaborate an EVIDENCE-BASED, FORWARD-LOOKING VISION FOR THE EU’s POLITICAL AGENDA AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS FOR CO-DESIGNING A MULTIDIMENSIONAL TOOLBOX (i.e. two tailor-made toolkits), together with InvigoratEU´s Expert Hub, Civil Society (CS) Network, Youth Labs, Workshops for Young Professionals and Policy Debates in a gaming set up, which will result in context-sensitive and actionable policy recommendations for European and national political stakeholders and (young) European citizens in particular. Our third goal is (3) to deploy a CDE (communication, dissemination and exploitation) strategy AIMING AT RECOMMENDATIONS FROM DAY 1 to maximize our scientific, policy and societal impact in invigorating the EU´s enlargement and neighbourhood policies to enhance Europe´s resilience. ULTIMATELY, INVIGORATEU IS A DELIBERATELY LARGE CONSORTIUM respecting THE DIVERSITY OF EUROPE and POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES; 7 out of 18 are from GEORGIA, MOLDOVA, UKRAINE, and the Western Balkans (NORTH MACEDONIA, MONTENEGRO, SERBIA), COMPLEMENTED BY our CS Network of 9 representatives from all Western Balkan countries, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.