Underlying Event studies and search for jet modifications in pp and p-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

It is well-established that high-multiplicity pp and p--Pb collisions exhibit various signatures associated with the formation of QGP in heavy-ion collisions. In this contribution, we present results obtained using Underlying Event (UE) techniques, used to measure the average number density and the average total transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) in the Transverse region with respect to the leading trigger particle, but employed in novel ways. A conventional UE analysis is applied in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV to test the similarities between pp and p--Pb collisions. The results are compared with predictions from QCD-inspired Monte Carlo event generators. Finally, the UE studies are used to search for jet-like modifications by subtracting the UE contributions measured in the Transverse region from the Toward and the Away regions.