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UACES Conference Flags an EU-Asia Stream

The 39th Annual and Research Conference of UACES (University Association of Contemporary European Studies) was hosted on 3-5 September 2009 by the Centre for European Integration at ESSCA Graduate School of Business, a French grande école located in the city of Angers (Loire Valley), that also runs campuses in Budapest and Shanghai. the conference programme, which included some 280 papers on all aspects of European Studies, presented a complete "EU-Asia stream" composed by a series of high-level panels organised in partnership with ASEF. The first of these panels brought together renowned experts on ASEM such as Song Xinning, Dominique Girard and Yeo Lay-Hwee; a second one, chaired by Wei Shen and focussing on "New Directions of the China-Europe Relationship", featured contributions by Men Jing, Francis Snyder and Su Hungdah. One of the conference's plenary sessions also highlighted EU-China relations in presenting and discussing Francis Snyder's recently released book "The European Union and China 1949-2008" in an original "author-meets-readers" debate.

 

 

 

 

Amb. Domiqiue Girard, Executive Director, ASEF, &, Prof. Xinning Song, ESiA advisory group member, during their high level panel session

 

 

 

 

 

 

ASEF was also present with a stand in the publishers' exhibition which was open to all participants over the three days of the conference in the main hall of the venue. Both the organisers and participating ASEF members agreed that there was promising potential in such a cooperation between the leading European Studies association and it's Asian-European counterpart and expressed their interest in seeing this link developed in the future.

For more information, click here

 

"Asia in the Eyes of Europe" Panel


ASEF organised the “Asia in the Eyes of Europe” panel dialogue at the 6th bi-annual International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS), which took place in Daejeon Korea from the 6th to the 9th of August. The panel took place over two sessions and aimed to generate ideas and input for an upcoming ASEF project to measure perceptions of Asia in the European Union - the reverse of a project undertaken by ASEF on “Europe through the Eyes of Asia” which looks at Asian perceptions of the EU and is ongoing in 12 locations across Asia.


The panel featured presentations from seven top level experts from academia, government, the media sector and think tanks to discuss good practises and to map the current landscape on the issue of EU-Asia perceptions. Ambassador Brian McDonald, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Korea (pictured (left) with Prof. Martin Holland during the panel discussion), gave welcome remarks on behalf of the EC and provided his support for the ambitious project which is planned to take place over the next three years.

 

This project is a major undertaking that will seek to draw on the expertise and experiences from "The EU through the Eyes of Asia" project. The findings of the project will provide much valued comparative data for scholars to use in tandem with the findings of "The EU through the Eyes of Asia" data spurring informed dioalogue and debate on Asia-Europe relations.

In addition Ambassador Dominique Girard, Executive Director, ASEF, was invited to be a Keynote Speaker addressing the 1100 attending participants of the ICAS convention with a speech entitled: “ASEF – an intellectual entrepreneur for an Asia-Europe dialogue” at the official opening of the convention. The speech highlighted the importance of the upcoming project and called for the establishment of strong new partnerships to carry it out.

For more information click here

 

 

Breaking down the Great Invisible Wall: Milestones in China’s growth through the eyes of a Western scholar

              by David Gosset, Director, China-Europe International Business School

 

What comes to mind when you think about the 60th anniversary of the Republic?


David Gosset (DG): Mainly three things. First, as Mao Zedong said 60 years ago, “China has stood up!” Second, a tectonic shift. What one-fth of mankind has accomplished in 60 years is extraordinary. The country has been transformed,
modernized, and China is now a co-architect of the global system. It is extraordinary in the sense that nobody in 1949 could have anticipated its current situation.

In 1949 our world was polarized between the US and the Soviet Union; today some analysts are talking about a G2 composed of the US and China. Although the G2 discourse is a great simplication, it is interesting if you take it as an indicator of a tectonic shift in global politics.

Third, unfortunately, a lack of understanding in the West of China’s transformation. China has changed considerably, but Western perception of it does not really correspond to China’s new realities...

 

For the full copy of the article please click here.

 

ESiA Interim Advisory Group Meeting and Public Seminar


University of Macau, China S.A.R
12 March 2009

The Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) in partnership with the University of Macao organised an interim meeting of the European Studies in Asia (ESiA) Advisory Group, coupled with a public seminar entitled "Asian-EU relations: A Research Agenda".

The meeting took place to take advantage of the high numbers of the ESiA Advisory Group participating in the Network of European Studies Centres in Asia (NESCA), which took place in Macau from the 13th to the 15th.

The points up for discussion included:

• ESiA Phase III wrap up, Beginning of Phase IV and a future revisit
• Book Launch series
• ESiA Young Academic Workshop series
• Brussels Briefing
• Publications strategy
• Innovative Visions for the future of ESiA
• Role of the ESiA Advisory Group


Conference Particpants from Left: Dr. Pham Quang Minh, Prof. Cornelius Luhulima, Mr. Peter Ryan, Prof. Paulo Canelas, Prof. Sunghoon Park, Dr. Natalia Chaban, Ambassador Rosario Manalo, Prof. Roziah Omar, Prof Xinning Song, Prof. Dai Bingran, Mr. Ronan Lenihan, Prof. Apirat Petchsiri, Prof. Hamidin Abd. Hamid, (absent from photo: Dr. Kenneth Chan)

The Public Seminar included some very interesting presentations from ESiA Advisory Board members Prof. Sung-hoon Park (Korea University), Prof. Martin Holland (National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE) - University of Canterbury), Prof. Dai Bingran (Fudan University) and Mr. Peter Ryan (ASEF). The seminar was chaired by Prof. Paulo Canelas de Castro of the Faculty of Law, University of Macau

The seminar was attedned by over 50 local stakeholders including students and faculty of the University of Macau, Media and AdvEsiA advisory group members

Prof. Rui Martins (centred), Vice Rector, University of Macau, weclomes the distinguished speakers at the Public Seminar

 

 ESiA BOOK LAUNCH SERIES

 

The EU through the Eyes of Asia: Media, Public and Elite Perceptions in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Thailand

Beijing – 22 October 2008

ESia Martin Holland In the lead up to the ASEM summit, the European Studies in Asia (ESIA) network organised a book launch and panel discussion in partnership with the Centre for European Studies – Renmin University of China in Beijing.

 As the ASEM process moves forward and both regions look to strengthen ties this publication offers a uniquely significant insight into the perceptions of the EU across five of the Asian ASEM member countries. This major academic collaboration in partnership with the National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE) – University of Canterbury, combines public opinion surveys and key media, business and political stakeholder interviews to produce scientifically compelling analysis. This analysis can, first and foremost, allow the EU to better gauge its role in Asia through the eyes of its people and assist in better informed policy making.   

 The event brought together key European studies academics and many of the publication’s key contributors, Prof. Martin Holland (NCRE), Prof. Dai Bingran (Fudan University) and Dr. Kenneth Chan (Hong Kong Baptist University), to deliver presentations on their findings from the China and Hong Kong studies. The panelists were joined by Prof. Xinning Song (Renmin University), who moderated the panel discussion. The event also featured Kenneth Chanremarks from Prof. Chen Yulu, Vice President of Renmin University and Prof. Dong Lisheng, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)

The event was attended by over ninety people from a wide variety of professional backgrounds with many of the participants from the 4th Asia-Europe Editors’ Roundtable in attendance. The large audience numbers resulted in an interesting and vibrant question and answer session at the end of the event. Many interesting insights were highlighted regarding the changing perceptions of the EU in China following the Olympic

The Beijing book launch was the final event in a series that saw the publication launched in eight cities across Asia including Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. The next phase of the study will examine the perceptions of the EU in Vietnam, Indonesia and The Philippines, with the publication expected to be available early next year.

 

For more information on the book launch series, click here.   

 

 

ESIA YOUNG ACADEMICS WORKSHOP!

 

How is the EU Perceived in Asia? Media, Public and Elite Perceptions,

1-5 September 2008

Bruges, Belgium.

ESiA's Young Academics' Workshop is a new series initiated specifically to provide a platform for next generation European studies academics in Asia and Europe to exchange ideas, acquire new skills and present their work to the larger European studies community.

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), the National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE) and the College of Europe brought together 20 young academics from across Asia and Europe  for the European Studies in Asia (ESiA) 1 st Young Academics' Workshop "How is the EU Perceived in Asia: Media, Public and Elite Perceptions", which took place in Bruges, Belgium, from

The five-day event trained a select number of young European studies academics (at the Masters and Doctoral levels) on how they may be able to analyse and utilise the unique dataset that has been generated from "EU through the Eyes of Asia" project in their own research work.

The inaugral workshop brought together 20 (10 Asian and 10 European) young academics from the two regions. The participants cames from a very broad academic background, which added great value to the multi-disciplinary nature of the workshop. Each workshop participant will produce an 8000 word paper, the best of which will be published in a special edition of the Asia-Europe Journal. The candidate who presents the best paper, as selected by the ESiA selection panel, wil be rewarded with a three month fellowship to the National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE), University of Canterbury.

"This was a great and memorable learning experience for me because of the truly hands-on nature of the workshop and the research skills we acquired. Not only did we learn from the trainers, Martin and Natalia, we also learned a lot from one another and have made contacts that will help us later in our academic careers. I especially enjoyed the various innovative activities Martin and Natalia had us do from day one!"

Bruce Avasdanond (Thailand)
PhD Candidate
School of Public Administration, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)


"The sessions we had in Brugge were not only highly informative, but also entertaining! We also got a chance to exchange our ideas and to interact with the group. Hence, I feel I have not only improved my knowledge about EU perceptions in Asia, but I have also learnt how best to conduct intensive seminars while keeping participants constantly interested and eager. Finally, a plus of the programme is that it complemented the actual seminar with talks by officials and journalists with first-hand experience of EU-Asia relations, a visit to the European Parliament/European Commission and some sightseeing in the medieval city of Brugge."

Clara Portela (Spain)

PhD Candidate/Lecturer

European Union Institute/ Singapore Management University

Participants and Co-organisers of the ESiA 1st Young Academic Workshop held at the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium. September 1-5 2008

 

 

 

 

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