Overuse of caesarean section (C-section) has adverse consequences on maternal and child health. It also deviates essential resources worldwide and hinders universal access to healthcare services. We aim to develop and evaluate a strategy to implement non-clinical interventions to reduce unnecessary C-sections in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Thailand and Vietnam. This strategy combines four active ingredients: opinion leaders to implement evidence-based clinical guidelines, caesarean audits and feedback to help providers identify potentially avoidable C-sections, a decision-analysis tool to empower women for better decision-making on mode of delivery, and the implementation of WHO recommendations on companionship during labour to support women during vaginal birth. The project promotes the engagement of stakeholders at all levels (policy-makers, health providers and end-users i.e. women) from the very start of the project to implement intervention components, which take into account the local context and to ensure a maximisation of the expected impacts. To improve the quality of implementation and use of evidence, knowledge transfer activities will be implemented. Qualitative and health systems research to investigate the multiple layers of power and interaction as well as decision-making processes within multi-professional teams are integrated throughout the project in order to bridge the knowledge-do gap and better understand scaling-up processes. The evaluation will examine physical and psycho-social effects of the strategy and will highlight the interdependent relationship between maternal and child outcomes related to overuse of C-section. Particular attention will be given to equity issues and gender considerations in the interpretation of results. Overall, our project will improve appropriate use of C-sections and will address several SDG targets including improving maternal and neonatal health and reducing inequalities within and between countries.

Industry 4.0 has changed the way we live, learn, and work. It has also changed how a business runs. In response to this rapid change, not only force companies to bring in technology but also to revisit their human capacity building. Unavoidably, this chain effect ripples back and urges all academic institutes, especially in engineering schools, to adjust to this change. ReCap 4.0 is a joint capacity building project between 5 universities from Thailand and 3 EU partner universities that is proposed to enhance the capacity and ability of the non-university sector at the tertiary level in Thailand for the effective delivery of engineering and technology knowledge and skills related to Industry 4.0 and to strengthen a partnership among participating European and Thai universities as well as benefited non-university sector.In order to achieve these goals, the project will focus specifically on - Improvement of competences and skills of teaching staff of non-university sector at the tertiary level in Thailand with the Industry 4.0 competence development training program - Development of innovative training modules complete with training materials, - Implementation of modern ICT tools and methodologies for effective training- Training trainers by EU partners for the sustainability of the program- Establishment of an Innovative Teaching and Learning Center for continuing providing training, - Setup of training network to ensure the sustainability of the project results and to be in line with European policy and practice in Thailand.By achieving these objectives, ReCap 4.0 will deliver an Industry 4.0 competence development training program of ten modules complete with innovative training materials, twelve Thai trainers passing train the trainers activities, and sixty trained teaching staff for the non-university sector at the tertiary education level in Thailand and an Innovative Teaching and Learning Center for Thailand Sustainable Smart Industry.

Industry 4.0 has grasped attentions of industry, academic and research institutes as well as governments all over the world, including in EU countries and Thailand. In line with European 2020, the Thailand government has foreseen also the need for change from production-based economy (Thailand 3.0) to value-based economy (Thailand 4.0) in order for Thai industries to be competitive. There will be a need for human resource development for a new type of qualified MSc graduates to support Thailand 4.0 as well as Industry 4.0. Therefore, this capacity building project is proposed to enhance the capacity and ability of universities in Thailand for the delivery of a high quality competence-based curriculum for Master’s degree in industrial engineering that supports sustainable smart industry (Industry 4.0), conforms to European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and is applicable to EU partner universities. The project will be specifically focused on • Modernization of a curriculum for Master’s degree in industrial engineering that also meet the EU quality standard requirements,• Development and implement of modern ICT teaching tools and methods for effective student-centered learning of the curriculum,By achieving the objectives, this project will deliver a modernized MSIE curriculum containing 15 new courses that will be equipped with teaching and learning materials. The course will also be prepared for Online learning. 9 courses will be pilot tested. Laboratory with remote access will be built to support student learning. More importantly, teaching and technical staffs will be trained by experts in the areas from EU partners. It is expected that the curriculum will be able to address the needs of the industry as well as the nation in term of capacity building for Thailand 4.0. Although the curriculum will be developed to support Thai industries, it, meeting EU standards, can potentially be disseminated to other universities in the region.