The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is part of a new research initiative that will further understanding of a region spanning Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central, East & Pacific Asia, led by the University of Glasgow’s Central and East European Studies (CEES).
IDS is a key partner in the project working on Shifting Global Polarities: Russia, China, and Eurasia in Transition. The Polarities & Regions Network+ it builds will link a range of partners across the UK and key geographies across Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central, East & Pacific Asia. It will bring together leading researchers, policy actors, and others to understand this highly dynamic region and address gaps and needs in research during a period of major societal, geopolitical, and environmental transformations impacting the Eurasian continent and creating new challenges.
Partners include IDS, the Universities of Manchester and Oxford, and the Royal United Services Institute in the UK. Overseas, partners include Colgate University in the USA; the Ukrainian Catholic University; OSCE Academy Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan; National Taiwan University; Helsinki University in Finland; and Hokkaido University in Japan.
By building a network of expertise, the partnership aims to create new knowledge as well as build new capacities and train and mentor future leaders. An annual conference and training sessions for researchers and various stakeholders will serve to enhance the network and provide opportunities for dissemination of new ideas.
The funding was awarded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of their Building a Secure and Resilient World strategic theme. This initiative aims to advance innovative new partnerships within academic and policy circles linked to a range of urgent thematic areas including social upheaval, geopolitics and security, environmental crisis, human rights, Russia-China relations, and post-conflict reconstruction. Through the network, open calls for new research, training, and arts-based initiatives will be funded each year between 2024 and 2028.
Lewis Husain, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, said:
“The Network links closely to a number of themes in IDS’ work, including that of the IDS China Centre, which seeks to better understand China’s changing impacts in the world and in key regions, and the implications for progress on a range of global challenges. This project comes at a key time, as the new Labour government is articulating its foreign policy, making a case for what David Lammy has called ‘progressive realism’. The consortium will play an important role in informing thinking on the UK’s role in the world, and links with a key region, at a critical time.”
Jon Oldfield, Professor, University of Birmingham, said:
“There is an urgent need to generate greater insight into the issues, the challenges and the politics that intersect across these important geographical areas. The network’s activities will help us to better understand and identify global risks and help inform better decision-making.”
Luca Anceschi, Professor, Eurasian Studies, said:
“We are excited to start working alongside our partners on the Polarities & Regions Network+. The award confirms CEES as the leading UK institution for the study of the post-socialist countries of Europe and Asia: we now have external recognition for both our flagship teaching programme—the CEERES Erasmus Mundus Master—and our collective research.”
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