The area of cognitive sciences is a unique cross-disciplinary field of social and behavioural sciences (SBS), which brings psychology and neuroscience. However, cognitive sciences in Russian Federation (RF) are largely framed as a psychology-only discipline, while in India they are sparse with only a few premier institutions. This limitation may stem from (1) a highly conservative educational tradition that has resisted incorporating modern approaches into curricula, (2) the lack of interdisciplinary approaches in teaching cognitive sciences and neurobiology, and (3) the lack of international perspective in education. Altogether, this makes the education in cognitive fields less competitive on the international market and less attractive to students, even though the need in experts is very high. We believe that the essential priorities are to promote interdisciplinary fields of cognitive sciences and to include more neuroscience-related disciplines into curriculum of psychology in RF. This, however, poses a serious challenge, as training in neuroscience is more time-consuming. To address these challenges, the project will implement neuroscience curriculum in psychology in a unified Master-PhD track, aimed at streamlining multidisciplinary education in RF. The curriculum of advanced courses will be developed based on expertise of leading higher education institutions (HEIs) in psychology and neuroscience. The project particularly focuses at introducing innovative knowledge on neuronal basis of cognitive functions to core education in SBS. We aim at coordinating curricula at Master and PhD levels to raise the quality of cross-disciplinary PhD projects. The new Master-PhD direct track will provide both a more competitive environment and a better-defined career perspective, which will help to attract higher-quality students to RF and India HEIs. The project will foster internationalization of RF HEIs and the capacity of our network in education in cognitive sciences.

As the negative impacts of rising global temperatures become increasingly evident, national governments, regional authorities and private stakeholders are enhancing efforts to curve down the emissions the greenhouse gases (GHG) responsible for global warming. Measuring the effectiveness of GHG emission reduction policies against agreed-upon international targets require accurate and precise estimates of emissions and their trends. These estimates need to be established and regularly updated using transparent methods, tracable to international standards. VERIFY proposes to quantify more accurately carbon stocks and the fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) across the EU based on independent observations in support of inventories that rely only on statistical data. The same approach will also be tested for US, China and Indonesia, in collaboration with foreign partnes. Accurate characterization of the space-time variations of GHG fluxes, separating their anthropogenic and natural components and their drivers, will be based on advanced modelling approaches using atmospheric GHG measurements, tracer transport inversions and various arrays of land observations, in-situ and from space. The improved knowledge of GHG budgets from VERIFY will be used to improve national inventories, in collaboration with national inventory agencies, and to deliver policy-relevant information to track progress of the EU mitigation efforts to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement on Climate, in line with international cooperation mechanisms promoted by the WMO, the IPCC and the UNFCCC.

CONTEXT In recent years, the 'turbulent triangle' between China, Japan, Korea and Russia has been a focus of global attention. This zone of Northeast Asia is a vital geostrategic and economic location, and the legacy of conflict during the period of this project remains keenly felt and continues to influence international relations in Northeast Asia. The period to be studied by researchers working on this project was one of intense imperial competition in Northeast Asia, involving Britain and the US as well as the Northeast Asian powers, and it had enduring implications. The project runs from the start of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, through the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War in the Pacific, the Chinese Civil War, and the Korean War up until the Korean Armistice in 1953. Japan was the dominant imperial power in the region during this period until 1945. Japan began seizing the Chinese Eastern Railway, a Russian-owned line, during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Ultimately Japan drove Russia out of Manchuria, and it occupied Korea from 1910. The Russian Revolution in 1917 ended Tsarist imperialism, but the increasing assertiveness of the USSR led to the Soviet reconquest of Sakhalin in 1945, along with the seizure of the Kuril Islands: both remain disputed by Japan seventy years later. Another legacy of the Cold War in Asia, the Korean War, has never formally ended. US troops are also still in Japan more than six decades after the end of the postwar occupation. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This project on the history of Northeast Asia will establish an international and interdisciplinary research network. This will bring together researchers based in Japan and the UK to work collaboratively. We will use innovative methods, including from disciplines outside history such as historical geography and history of art, to identify the transnational, global and local influences which shaped the region in this period. Links between Britain and Japan in this region during the period of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902-1923), will also be a particular focus. By working collaboratively, researchers on the project will be able to learn from comparisons and connections to adjacent areas of research, and so will build up a more complete picture of the conflicts, connections and resistance which shaped the subjugated territories of Korea and Manchuria, and the adjacent region. The project will consider the impact on communities, daily life, trade, infrastructure and the borders, enabling us to understand the influence of imperial competition, connections and resistance in the region, and so to understand the enduring impact of the conflicts and tensions of this period. During the 16-month project, researchers will produce scholarly publications including an edited volume and a journal article. We will also publish a paper on the legacies of this region's history of imperialism and subjugation, aimed at policymakers. In addition, researchers will curate public exhibitions on this theme in the UK and Japan, and will establish a website aimed at general readers and students. BENEFITS The history of this region is of enormous interest to scholars, but the benefits of this research are much broader. A better understanding of the past is essential to make sense of the complex pressures at work in the region today; this is a vital consideration in a region widely perceived as critical to global stability. Through this research project, researchers will gain and share new insights.