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Background

The Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN) programme is supported by GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG, a Swiss foundation aimed at promoting science. The foundation has been active in Eastern Europe for more than 10 years. Until 2008, it financed a programme called "Swiss Baltic Net" (SBN) which supported young researchers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in different fields, primarily by helping them work in Switzerland-based research centres for a few months. After those countries became members of the EU, the foundation decided to gradually dismantle the SBN programme. 
 
ASCN has received financing from GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG since 2009. The programme focuses on the social sciences and humanities; its aim is to contribute to the transformation process in the region. The Interfaculty Institute of Central and Eastern Europe (IICEE) at the University of Fribourg is ASCN’s  headquarters. The Institute (IICEE) runs the programme and coordinates all the activities that take place in Switzerland and the Caucasus.