The IDEAS project (Integrating and Developing European Asian Studies), drawn up by a group of six ECAF institutions assisted by the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA), has received financing of 1.2 m € from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Program (FP7). The project, which is coordinated by the EFEO and will run for thirty months, was officially launched on January 8, 2010 at the Asien-Afrika-Institut of the University of Hamburg. IDEAS aims to make an impact in a number of key areas of interest to the ECAF network. Structured around four work packages, it will focus on:

Combining strengths of the ECAF network

The University of Turku will implement a comprehensive Europe-wide assessment of Asian Studies resources, in particular those that are relevant to geopolitical analysis and establish structures for their more effective coordination.

Sharing access to the network of 22 field centres 

The British Academy will assess the facilities of the network of French, German and Italian-owned field research centres across Asia run by ECAF members with a view to developing their access, services and organisation to benefit greater numbers of visiting European scholars.

Sharing and exchanging access to knowledge resources

INRIA and IsIAO, in cooperation with HAS, will provide the foundation for the integration of ECAF network library resources through the creation of an IT platform which will offer cross-lingual access to a wide range of text, audio, video resources to be made available via the IDEAS project web portal.

Linking EU Asian Studies and policy-makers needs

The University of Hamburg will evaluate the current practices and needs of National and European policy-makers and potential other end-users of research, and facilitate connections and engagement between them and the ECAF network.

Please feel free to contact either the project manager, Elisabeth Lacroix, or the IDEAS partners to learn more about the project and forthcoming events. Contact details are available on the IDEAS website: www.ideasconsortium.eu.