Thinking outside the box: SEnECA Midterm Conference and Scenario Workshop on 29–31 January 2019 in Almaty
The second international conference of the Horizon 2020 project SEnECA took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 29 to 31 January 2019. The conference comprised high-panel podium discussions, an academic policy advice training and a scenario building workshop on EU-Central Asia relations. It was the third event during which the SEnECA consortium members from eleven involved countries could meet in person, discuss the project progress and develop new ideas. The conference was organised by the Central Asia Institute for Strategic Studies (CAISS), a Kazakh think tank based in Almaty. A total of 85 academics, government officials, practitioners and students (including SEnECA partners) from Europe and Central Asia participated in the conference elaborating on the current state of affairs of EU-Central Asia relations. During the academic advice training, junior and senior researchers acquired useful skills on how to improve the “transfer” of research results to the wider public and how to best approach decision-makers.
Another highlight of the conference was the scenario building workshop which served as a thought experiment. Divided into three groups, participants had to identify important drivers for the regional cooperation in Central Asia and to sketch out three different future scenarios while focusing on those drivers. Participants regarded the following factors as the two most crucial ones: “the (high or low) engagement of external powers in Central Asia” as well as the “(strong or limited) change in the domestic political systems in Central Asia”. Interestingly, the three scenario groups came to very different conclusions when imagining a strong involvement of external powers in the region, which showed the wide range of perceptions of Russia, China, the US and the EU among Central Asians. Overall, the conference was a great opportunity for researchers and stakeholders to meet, to generate more understanding for each other’s views and to develop common project ideas.