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'In the present foundations are ascribed a central role in overcoming social and political problems, be it in the field of social welfare or the sponsorship of science and the arts. But they were also in the past always an indicator of the condition of a society and lend themselves to deducing its overall structure. In a historical perspective they permit an intercultural comparison because there is evidence of the phenomenon of the foundation, while not on a continual basis, in all advanced civilizations. The project intends to carry out a comparative investigation of foundations of the medieval millenium (from approximately 500 to 1500 CE) in European Latin and Greek Orthodox Christianity, in Judaism, Islam and in pluri-religious India and of their mutual relations while making use of the ideas of modern global history. It will therefore also involve questions of cultural transfer or cross-cultural interaction. Under the leadership of the submitter five experts from the fields of Medieval, Byzantine, Jewish, Islamic or Ottoman and Indian studies will compile an 'Encyclopedia of Foundations in the Medieval Millenium', in which articles written collaboratively will depict the forms, objectives, legal structures, endowments of the foundations and historical changes taking place within them, taking into consideration their religio-historical background (esp. end time concepts) and their respective historical context. The planned project is built upon pilot projects working on this issue, while a publishing company has already secured the rights for the publication of such an encyclopedia (also online). On completion of the project the submitter will also present a monograph on foundations in the Middle Ages as 'total social phenomenon' (M. Mauss) in an universal history perspective.'

Abstract In recent years, there has been much concern about the size and selectivity of the Israeli emigrant population. This paper focuses on two issues regarding Israeli emigrants. First, it focuses on their number and distribution in various destination countries; while the second part of the paper deals with patterns of self-selection among emigrants, namely, the skill level of Israelis who select themselves to leave Israel for various destination countries. The paper addresses these issues using the DIOC (Database on Immigrants in OECD Countries) which includes information on the foreign born (including Israeli-born) from censuses and population registers in OECD countries. The findings suggest that Israeli emigration has increased in the past two decades, but that most of the increase was in the 1990s, and was due to the emigration of foreign-born Israelis, rather than the emigration of native-born Israelis. Based on the DIOC, 164,000 Israeli-born emigrants, aged 15 years and over, resided in 25 OECD countries in 2000. Two thirds of the emigrants were in the US, and 85% in the Anglo-Saxon countries (the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland). France is the only non Anglo-Saxon country where over 5,000 Israelis resided. Based on Israeli and American sources, this paper also presents estimates for the total size of the Israeli-born emigrant population (including children under 15 and including non-OECD countries), as well as estimates for the number of foreign-born Israeli emigrants from Israel. The selectivity of Israeli emigrants, measured by education, occupation, employment status, and age is most positive in the Anglo-Saxon countries, especially the US, where the returns on skills are the highest. By contrast, the least skilled Israeli emigrants choose Scandinavian countries, where the labor markets are relatively rigid, and returns on skills tend to be the lowest. Selectivity for other European countries is somewhere in the middle, but the emerging, unregulated and unequal economies of Eastern Europe appear to attract very few, albeit highly-skilled, Israelis. These findings are consistent with migration selectivity theory which anticipates that high-skilled immigrants will choose destinations where their skills will be generously compensated. Additional support for the hypothesis that the skilled choose destinations with higher returns on skills, is evident from an analysis of very high skilled Israeli-born emigrants, those holding a Ph.D. degree or its equivalent. There are at least 5,600 such emigrants in OECD countries, and about 75% of them reside in the US. In the Anglo-Saxon countries (but not in continental Europe) about 40% of them are employed in colleges and universities. While only 7% of those with a Ph.D. in the US and other Anglo-Saxon countries do not work, the respective proportion in Europe is much higher, implying that the unobserved skills of many Israeli Ph.D.s in Europe are not as high as their (observed) high educational degree. Put differently, the unobserved skills of highly-educated Israeli emigrants are more positive in the US and Anglo-Saxon countries than in Europe. Finally, the relationship between selectivity and returns to skills are also demonstrated in correlations between labor market characteristics and immigrant skills. Résumé Le volume et la sélectivité de la population émigrante d’Israël ont connu un gain d’intérêt ces dernières années. Ce papier focalise sur deux problématiques concernant les émigrés israéliens. D’abord, il présente leurs effectifs et distribution dans divers pays de destination. Ensuite, il traite des modes d’auto sélection parmi les émigrants ; c’est-à-dire du niveau de qualification des israéliens qui se sélectionnent eux-mêmes pour quitter Israël et se diriger vers divers pays de destination. Le papier aborde la question en utilisant la base de données sur les immigrés dans les pays de l’OCDE (Database on Immigrants in OECD countries, DIOC) qui contient les informations sur les personnes nés à l’étranger (y compris les natifs d’Israël), extraites des recensements et des registres de population dans les pays OCDE. Les données montrent que le volume de l’émigration israélienne a augmenté pendant les deux dernières décennies, surtout au cours des années 1990, et que cette émigration est plus le fait des israéliens nés en dehors d’Israël que des israéliens nés en Israël. Selon la base de données DIOC, 164.000 émigrés natifs d’Israël, âgés de 15 ans et plus, résident dans 25 pays OCDE en 2000. Deux tiers des émigrés étaient aux Etats Unis et 85% dans les pays anglo-saxons (Etats-Unis, Canada, Royaume-Uni, Nouvelle-Zélande et Irlande). La France est le seul pays non anglo-saxon où résident 5.000 israéliens. En se basant sur des sources israéliennes et américaines, ce papier présente aussi des estimations de l’effectif total de la population émigrée native d’Israël (y compris les moins de 15 ans et les non-résidents dans les pays OCDE) ainsi que des estimations de l’effectif des émigrés israéliens nés en dehors d’Israël. La sélectivité des émigrés israéliens, mesurée par l’éducation, la profession, la situation dans la profession et l’âge, est la plus positive dans les pays anglo-saxons, notamment les Etats-Unis, où les récompenses des compétences sont élevées. A l’opposé, les moins qualifiés des émigrés israéliens optent pour les pays scandinaves, où les marchés du travail sont relativement rigides et les récompenses des qualifications comptent parmi les plus basses. La sélectivité pour les autres pays européens se situe quelque part entre les deux, mais l’émergence d’économies non régulés et inégalitaires en Europe de l’Est semble attirer très peu de migrants israéliens qui, toutefois, disposent de très hautes qualifications. Ce résultat est compatible avec la théorie de la sélectivité de la migration qui prévoit que les migrants hautement qualifiés choisissent les destinations où leurs qualifications seront généreusement récompensées. Un autre appui pour l’hypothèse selon laquelle les qualifiés optent pour les destinations avec des récompenses élevées pour les compétences est mis en évidence à partir de l’analyse d’émigrants très hautement qualifiés natifs d’Israël, notamment ceux qui disposent d’un niveau Ph.D. ou équivalent. Il y a au moins 5.600 émigrants du genre dans les pays OCDE dont environ 75% aux Etats-Unis. Dans les pays anglo-saxons (mais pas l’Europe continentale), près de 40% d’entre eux sont employés dans des instituts supérieurs et universités. Au même temps, seulement 7% de ceux disposant d’un Ph.D. et résidant aux Etats-Unis et autres pays anglo-saxons ne travaillent pas. Cette proportion est beaucoup plus élevée en Europe impliquant que les qualifications non observées de la plupart des détenteurs d’un Ph.D. en Europe ne sont pas aussi élevées que leur haut niveau d’éducation (observé). Autrement dit, les qualifications non observées des émigrés israéliens disposant d’un haut niveau d’éducation sont plus positives aux Etats-Unis qu’en Europe. Finalement, la relation entre sélectivité et récompenses pour compétences a été aussi démontrée dans les corrélations entre les caractéristiques du marché du travail et les compétences des migrants.

The BIOSKOH project will pave the way for a Second Generation European Circular Bioeconomy by showcasing how a number Innovation Stepping Stones can realise a breakthrough in techno-economic viability of lignocellulosic biorefineries. It will do so through a two stage investment process and development path to realise the largest (110 kton) second generation (2G) biorefinery in Europe. It starts from a brownfield industrial site in the eastern part of the Slovak Republic to realise the 1st stage Flagship plant to produce 55 kton of cellulosic ethanol per year for EU bio-fuel mandates. Partners include the full value chain starting from land owners and feedstock producers, supply chain experts and an agronomical research partner to set-up a new biomass value chain exploiting large amounts of currently unused crop residues (kton/year), and developing newly grown dedicated crops on marginal land (total circa 320 kton/year), as such revitalising the regional economy. Technology providers (Biochemtex, Novozymes and Lesaffre) developed, tested and demonstrated in the only available semi-industrial scale 2G biorefinery research plant (Crescentino), an innovative integrated pre-treatment, hydrolyses and fermentation package, with higher yield and lower CAPEX which will now be upscaled to the 1st of a kind commercial scale Flagship, to be built by Energochemica. Aim is to showcase techno-economic viability based on a sound business plan and 4 stepping stones (yield, biomass cost, brownfield and industrial symbiosis). Dedicated innovation actions by expert partners include assessing increased cascading potential through lignin valorisation and 2G bio-chemicals, LCA, Socio-economic impact analyses, business plan for a 2nd investment round, exploitation, dissemination and replication actions to various bio-economy clusters in Europe, thus giving both a short term and a long term contribution to the European Industrial Renaissance and bio-economy.

The Indian migration to Sweden began in the twentieth century with students, labour migrants, and asylum seekers settling in the country and children being adopted from India by Swedish parents. In the beginning of the twenty-first century the Indian population in Sweden has increased considerably as an effect of family reunification, natural increase, and an intensified immigration of students and skilled laborers in response to changing immigration policies and internationalization processes of higher education. This case study provides an overview of the migration and the demographic and socio-economic profile of the Indian population in Sweden. As the study illustrates, Indians in contemporary Sweden have diverse migrations histories and constitute a more heterogeneous group of people with different economic, social and cultural backgrounds. While media discourses and perceptions of India have often privilege religion, the Indians in Sweden have used religion and culture as key elements for organizing collective activities and creating representation and visibility in society. In general the Indians have succeeded fairly well in their economic, social and cultural integration into Swedish society, while their political participation has been more restricted.

The main purpose of the proposed research is to document human migration and resettlement experience, with a particular focus of migrants from Syria, the Horn of Africa, and Asia (especially Afghanistan). The particular focus of the study is to determine the impact of family separation on resettlement and social inclusion outcomes for refugees and their host communities in Australia. The findings will help strengthen the evidence-base on resettlement as well as inform Oxfam’s campaign on migration focusing on family reunion.