ENACTED associates research, teaching, debate and dissemination activities in the area of European Studies, in the framework of a network of 12 partners (8 universities and 4 NGOs) from 6 countries (Romania, Hungary, Poland, Belarus, Republicof Moldova, Ukraine). Background and rationale of the proposal Eastern borderlands are defined here as the territories alongside the EU’s eastern borders which comprise areas of land under the jurisdiction of both the EU and EaP states. Borderlands are usually vulnerable and heterogeneous territories, since within a very condensed geographic areal the border effect could create visible economic, political and social asymmetries between countries part of the European project and countries outside the EU. Such dichotomy, if persistent, could shed a negative light on the EU’s role outside its confined boundaries. In the eastern neighbourhood of the EU, borderlands have received increased attention in the past years, particularly since the commencement of the Ukrainian crisis and the subsequent geopolitical competition between the Euro-Atlantic community and Russia affected the broader eastern neighbourhood area. As such, this project seeks, first, to launch a new approach to analyse the EU’s actorness capacity to act in its Eastern neighbourhood, starting with the premise that a resilient EU able to live up to challenges stemming from the eastern neighbourhood should also play a more active role in its immediate borderland regions by enhancing cooperation and by raising awareness about the urgent need to contribute to the stabilization of the regions. In order to boost the EU’s value-based logic in the region, the project seeks, second, to promote the concept of an "open academic network” in the eastern borderlands by integrating academic partners from countries located on both sides of the EU’s eastern borders: 1. universities which produce and foster knowledge about the EU; 2. NGOs that are closely interested in EU-related matters and which are able in partnership with the universities to generate synergies between the academia and the civil society for disseminating knowledge in the area of European Studies. Objectives, activities, main outputs, outcomes and impact The general aim of the project is the consolidation and promotion of excellence in research and teaching of European Studies, particularly with regards to the topic of the EU actorness, by integrating partners of the network, as well as increasing their role in the society, through the following specific objectives: 1. the creation of a favourable context (multinational and pluri-disciplinary) for strengthening the cooperation between universities and NGOs in the study of the role of the EU actorness in the eastern border regions; 2. the better understanding of the specific realities that the societies of the countries located on both sides of the EU’s eastern border are confronted with; 3. the promotion of excellence in teaching and research at the network level and the increase of visibility and relevance of the resources and the results of the partners at local, regional and national levels by providing new research directions and novel research methods, up-to-date didactic competences, increased normative relevance of academic research, new practices for cooperation, enhanced transfer of knowledge between the partners of the network in particular towards the institutions with limited experience and/or understanding in the field of European Studies, chiefly with respect to relevance of the EU’s actorness the eastern neighbourhood of the EU; 4. the formation and the development of competences for the young academics, through knowledge transfer to the new generation of academics; 5. the stronger role of universities in fostering dialogue and partnership with civil society by integrating in the network NGOs, by organising training programmes, debates on topics relevant to the study of the EU’s eastern neighbourhood regions and by a wider dissemination of the results of the project; 6. the increased cooperation between universities and policy-makers/professionals dealing with EU-related matters by providing trainings, joint events, publication and dissemination of the research results; 7. strengthening the European dimension of the academic offer available within the network, increasing the attractiveness of European Studies as a field of research and study and a wider dissemination of knowledge about the EU’s actorness in its Eastern neighbourhood to the younger generations by producing new courses and programmes. PARTENERS Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania (UAIC) University of Oradea - Association of Institute for Euroregional Studies, Romania (AIES) University Ştefan cel Mare Suceava, Romania (USV) Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, Republic of Moldova (ASEM) Association for Ethnic and Regional Studies, Republic of Moldova (ASER) Moldova State University, Republic of Moldova (USM) Promotion of Intercultural Cooperation, Odessa, Ukraine (PIC) Quadrivium, Ukraine (QUA) Yuriy Fedcovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine (ChNU) Belarusian State University, Belarus (BSU) Warsaw School of Economics, Poland (WSE) University of Debrecen, Hungary (UDH)

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