The 2016 European Union Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy (EUGS) highlights the need to enhance external policies by pursuing better communication, information-sharing, joint reporting, analysis and response planning between member state embassies, EU delegations, Commission services, EU Special Representatives and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions. The CIVILnEXt project supports the development of a solution addressing existing “fragmentation” and closing “gaps”. To provide civilian CSDP missions with the next generation of secure and cost-effective information systems: a situational awareness, information exchange and operation control platform (OCP). Fully informed of contributing initiatives in civilian CSDP and EU external action, the project will aim to develop solutions leveraging on the results extracted from projects funded by the EU. The common challenge in CIVILnEXt is to develop, test and validate a cost-effective and interoperable operation control platform (OCP) that will support the conduct of civilian CSDP missions. The OCP will improve coordination in EU external action through better information exchange, situational awareness and operation control in diverse theaters of operation. It will support the EU’s comprehensive approach in complex missions, including the civil-military cooperation within CSDP, facilitate the engagement CSDP actors, creating links EU Delegations, FRONTEX, ECHO and other EU activities, member states, as appropriate, and other partners such as the UN and regional organisations. CIVILnEXt engages the participation of four national competent authorities, active in EU external policies and the UN organisations IOM. They share the need to become beneficiaries of procurement results that enhance the effectiveness of civilian CSDP. They are co-financing the action under one single joint procurement, supported by technical and policy advisors, with extensive CSDP experience.

Migration and the characteristics which constitute its parameters, dynamics and complexities comprises one of the most paramount matters in contemporary Europe. Under these designated circumstances, the necessity of relevant, concise, and useful knowledge are prerequisites for the design of efficient and constructive policies. Although particular databases such as EUROSTAT and OECD offer valuable insights into these migratory dynamics, a comprehensive, efficient and integrative database which synthesizes, categorizes and maps out the vast analytical accounts on migration throughout Europe is non-existent. This project, bringing together 16 leading research institutions, networks and policy institutes throughout Europe, aims to proficiently fulfill this gap crucial for policy-purposes through the construction of a central migration hub. This hub will be of instrumental value due to its capability to operate as a key grammar in the design of current and future policy. Essentially, it accumulates and consolidates past, present and future migration research through providing an extensive yet succinct overview of migration drivers, infrastructures, flows, and policies, allowing for an improved systematic understanding of the factors that constitute the interaction between these analytical categories. The accessibility, accumulation and integration of research in one hub will be an integral element for improved policy making as it concentrates and visualizes relevant data – thereby facilitating information acquisition in pursuance of policy oriented goals. As of such, a continuous research-policy dialogue is prevalent throughout the construction of the hub, an insight which enables its users to visualize and develop migration scenarios- entailing a classification system for migration research. Consequently, the project aims to shape a strategic research agenda on migration as it will identify gaps, overlaps and connections within the available stock of migration research