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The EUGS was launched in difficult times - in the immediate aftermath of the UK Referendum, just prior to the election of President Trump and during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

It mapped an path for the EU the context of which has been subsequently disrupted. It confirmed the EU’s commitment to global order through the norms of human rights, sustainable development and international law and stressed a readiness to “not impose” and to search for mutual understandings beyond EU borders.

The EUGS promises to “enhance strategic communications, investing in and joining up public diplomacy across different fields, in order to connect EU foreign policy with citizens and better communicate it to our partners”. Expectations were set high and it is incumbent on the new 2019 EU leadership to deliver on these commitments.

���ݱʷ������builds knowledge and facilitates best practice by contributing to policy debates on global governance and fostering academia-practitioner dialogue. 

���ݱʷ������consolidates practitioners’ policy insights and academic excellence by gathering data and producing methodologically rigorous analyses of expectations towards the EU and narratives that reflect EU external relations with Asia.

Renewed leadership opens new opportunities for EU re-branding and policy revision and can address the long-standing “expectations gap”.

Informed by EUGS priorities, ���ݱʷ������will help the EU to:

• improve the consistency of external expectations of EU principles and action;
• revise expectations towards EU messages and narratives tailored for diverse Asian societies;
• offer factual information about changing EU contexts;
• work via social media;
• redesign diplomacy to address the dominant EU perceptions in Asia;
• work with local opinion-makers in a culturally-sensitive way to manage expectations towards EU leadership;
• Employ public diplomacy to foster an open media environment for insights into EU-Asian relations;
• trace the evolution of EU expectations to “develop a more politically rounded approach to Asia” (EUGS: 38); and
• establish a baseline of EU expectations in the context of leadership renewal and global disruption.

���ݱʷ������gathers systematic data on EU recognition in societies marked by growing geopolitical weight and builds and exchanges knowledge across priority areas: expectations of the EU as an economic powerhouse; sustainable development, environmental and climate change advocate; an attractive investment, business and innovation hub; an effective security actor; and as a normative power.

Ultimately, ���ݱʷ������facilitates a better understanding of EU global actorness under new leadership thus enhancing the integration process by providing external feedback.

���ݱʷ������draws on the experience of two decades of EU perceptions projects conducted in Asia by the National Centre for Research on Europe utilising existing academic collaborations, successful structures, tested methods and theoretical models.

���ݱʷ������builds capacity between academics and practitioners from media, think tanks and the EEAS by studying EU external expectations and perceptions; EU global actorness and leadership; and EU-Asian relations. The academia-stakeholders axis fosters innovative research and teaching in EU Studies.

���ݱʷ������also brings together a team of established scholars and EU-Asia practitioners to develop a new cohort of early-career researchers from the EU and Asia to promote sustainability in the fields of EU foreign policy, international identity and public diplomacy.

���ݱʷ������will establish mentoring mechanisms to train a new generation of European Integration scholars. These early career researchers will be:

• involved in all stages of data collection and analysis
• individually assigned an academic mentor
• supported in producing academic outputs, integrated into ongoing EU Studies courses and to develop new didactic materials

���ݱʷ������will equip young researchers with skills and knowledge for effective careers.

Utilising ���ݱʷ������results and methods in designing innovative EU courses will give a distinctive profile to these early career academics. These future leaders will also acquire civic skills, e.g. networking with civil society, media, policy-makers and diplomats; and the design of policy recommendations together with members of ���ݱʷ����’s Policy Impact Team.