in the Mekong region, therefore typical feature of SUMERNET research project in Phase II is that the researchers originate from more than one country. This cross-country collaboration has strengthened the relevance of SUMERNET research findings beyond the national and sub-national levels into the regional policy level. In Phase II, SUMERNET has invested its resources to develop capacity of researchers in the region by incorporating mentoring support of research project team. The mentoring support was highly appreciated by partners, as they benefited from the expertise of the mentors in improving the credibility of their research results and quality of the research outputs. Besides the mentoring, SUMERNET supported several workshops to enhance their capacity to generate outputs specifically intended for the academic and specific-interest audience, such as journal articles and book chapters, and working papers. The success of the capacity building support for researchers was illustrated by generation of numerous peer-review publication outputs, on various stages manuscript to accepted, and also a high-quality of book chapters produced for the SUMERNET flagship book publication expected to be published in early 2014. Supporting and sustaining high quality research remains the key effort in SUMERNET Phase II. From the wide vista of sustainable development challenges in the region, four research areas have been identified as the strategic research themes for Phase II: Ecosystem services, resource use and impacts, including: (a) conservation of critical ecosystems, (b) environmental sustainability, (c) biodiversity corridors, and (d) economic corridor sustainability. Trans-boundary issues. The focus is on the analysis of long-term impacts of national economics including trade and natural resources use on the sustainability of the region, and on searching for sustainable paths for regional cooperation and development. Energy & climate change: energy security, climate change and linkages of the two with economic development. The research under this theme directly aims at this target to support the formulation or development of national strategies in this area. Poverty and livelihoods: This theme is linked with the other three themes described above and will be a thread that runs through all aspects of Sumernet research activities. These themes are themselves broad in character: they will be refined, prioritised and turned into specific research questions by the network members and in consultation with policy makers to understand what knowledge they need and how decisions on key sustainable development issues can be informed and influenced by better understanding of the immediate and long-term implications of