Consortium

The project consortium of YOUNG_ADULLLT comprises 15 partner institutions from nine countries, representing different geographical and socio-economic realities across Europe. The partners meet criteria of high excellence. Included are researchers and research institutions of high national and international reputation, with evidenced international experience in cross-national research, as well as solid theoretical, methodological and regional expertise in the areas that are relevant to the project. Together, these partners represent a body of international and multidisciplinary expertise in the fields of Comparative and International Education (WWU, PHFR, GU, UGR), Education Policy (UAB, GU, ULisboa, UNIGE), Teacher Education (PHFR, UNIZG), Youth Research and Youth Policy (GUF, PU, SWU, UPORTO), Lifelong Learning (UTU, SWU, WWU), Sociology (PHFR, PU, SWU; UAB, UNIVIE), Economics (PU, GU, SWU), and Political Science (UNIVIE, WWU).

The strength of the partnership lies, first, in the diversity – scholarly, theoretical/methodological, but also cultural-linguistic – that the individual partners bring to the project, both in terms of their thematic specialization and previous experience. Second, their common aim of understanding and providing relevant knowledge for the improvement of educational and vocational policies, i.e., linking research and innovation. Third, the highly demonstrable capacity of all members of the team to work on, and deliver high quality outcomes from complex projects of the proposed type. These different aspects converge ensuring the partners will work effectively and successfully in this joint venture.


Partner

University of Münster - Germany

The teaching and research unit International and Comparative Education (Parreira do Amaral, Weiler) of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU) will coordinate the project. The WWU team brings together in a unique way experience and expertise relevant for the YOUNG_ADULLLT project: experience in EU research activities, project management as well as expertise with regard to educational governance and education policy, teacher training, educational transitions, lifelong learning and social pedagogy while bringing together educational research, policy and practice represents an important concern.

University of Education Freiburg - Germany

The ‘Department of Educational Research and School Development’ (represented by Hans- Georg Kotthoff) and the ‘Institute of Sociology’ (represented by Uwe H. Bittlingmayer) of the University of Education Freiburg (PHFR) will jointly participate in the YOUNG_ADULLLT project and will therefore contribute with interdisciplinary experience in EU research activities as well as relevant expertise in the fields of European educational policy, educational governance and transition, educational inequality, education on the background of the knowledge society and comparative education.

Goethe University Frankfurt - Germany

The Goethe-University Frankfurt (GUF) brings together expertise and experience in international research with young people’s transitions from school to work, employment services for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as EU youth policy.

Plovdiv University - Bulgaria

The members of the team of Plovdiv University (PU) offer a multi-disciplinary perspective on youth, employment and social policies, focusing on social, educational and cultural inequalities. They have experience in working in comparative international research projects on young people’s educational and work trajectories, labour market participation, cultural engagement, integration of minorities, and quality of work and life. The team will contribute to the project with knowledge on the Bulgarian context of life transitions, country specific youth policies, local dynamics of skills supply and demand, and the role of education in identity formation and personality development.

South-West University Blagoevgrad - Bulgaria

The team of South-West University “Neofit Rilski” in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria (SWU) brings specific expertise in a number of areas regarding the YOUNG_ADULLLT project topics. Prof. Milenkova has worked on the broad area of social dimension of education and training policies as a researcher, lecturer and professor. Her research interests are particularly focused on educational policies for ethnic minorities and the social significance of education. Prof. Apostolov has been engaged in many international projects (e.g. under Socrates, Minerva, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, 6th and 7th Framework programs, etc.) and initiatives in the field of science, higher education and youth. His particular experience is in the field of evaluation and implementation of projects for HE and VET, as well as gender and equality.

University of Zagreb - Croatia

The team of the University of Zagreb (UNIZG) brings together in a unique way experience and expertise relevant for the YOUNG_ADULLLT project: experience in EU research activities as well as expertise with regard to educational governance and education policy, teacher education, educational transitions, lifelong learning and social pedagogy whereas bringing together educational research, policy and practice represents an important concern

University of Glasgow - UK

The members of the team of the University of Glasgow (GU), under the leadership of the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change, will contribute to the YOUNG_ADULLLT project with their experience undertaking internationally recognized research that blurs the boundaries and strengthens the connection between educational research, policy and practice to promote social justice. They will also contribute to the project with their expertise in a wide range of disciplinary and methodological approaches to the analysis of transitions between all phases of lifelong learning systems in the UK and around the world.

University of Lisbon - Portugal

The team of the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon (IE-UL) contributes to YOUNG_ADULLLT project with its experience undertaking international and national research. Its members’ expertise on LLL policy, VET policy and labour market dynamics can contribute to the analysis of education and employment policies regarding young adult in European Union.

University of Porto - Portugal

The team of the University of Porto (UPORTO) has extensive previous acquaintance as a result of their collaboration in research projects and academic programs. They all belong to the same research centre (CIIE – Centre for research and Intervention in Education), which is very much focused on topics like educational and social policies; social and educational inequalities; young people and citizenship education; civic and political participation; migrants and migration; participation processes of minority and excluded groups (immigrants, poor people…); education for social justice, cooperation and development. In brief, the team members share expertise and commitment in social and educational intervention oriented to social change and social justice.

Autonomous University of Barcelona - Spain

The team of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) can draw on its experience on researching activities and international educational policy to contribute to the YOUNG_ADULLLT project. Particularly, its members' expertise on the global and regional current agendas of education policy can be valuable to analyse the emerging policies regarding young adults in the European Union.

University of Genoa - Italy

The Social Research Unit at Department of Educational Sciences of the University of Genoa (UNIGE) focuses on the way in which different sets of mechanisms and contexts interact in the various policies selected by the various countries and the way in which overlapping or diverging visions in regional/local policy networks about needs and activation paths of recipients can affect the success or the failure of policies. Its research deals with a variety of issues related to youth studies such as the processes of identity construction, of social construction of risky behaviors, biographical patterns and social inclusion/exclusion of disadvantaged people. The team has particular experience in research involving mixed methods, qualitative and biographical approaches, large-scale analysis on educational and occupational national and international data sets.

University of Vienna - Austria

The team of the University of Vienna(UNIVIE) has specific research interests, skills and expertise on the multilevelgovernance of social welfare policies (social assistance, labour market, education andtraining, immigration...), and on their territorial dimension. The UNIVIE team has also along-standingexperience in European and comparative research projects as well as expertise on using mixed methods in qualitative and quantitative comparative research.

University of Granada - Spain

The team of the University of Granada (UGR), members of the Research Group ‘Political and Educational Reforms’, have consolidated experience on educational research in areas as comparative education, social exclusion of youth and educational policy. The team has participated in several national and international research projects (EU), which offers a relevant experience to contribute to the challenges of the project.

University of Turku - Finland

CELE’s researcher team of the University of Turku brings together expertise relevant for the YOUNG_ADULLLT project. The team brings together three professors from adult education research, sociology of education research and youth education research and high amount and quality of comparative international education research. In addition, senior researcher Markku Vanttaja, research coordinator Tarita Riikonen as well as doctoral candidates Jenni Tikkanen and Heikki Kinnari belong to the research team. Therefore, the research group consists of junior and senior researchers at CELE and the Department of Education.

European Research Services GmbH - Germany

The European Research Services GmbH team brings in a wide experience in the administration and management of EU projects: ERS has been and is a partner in 15 projects in FP7. In Horizon2020 ERS is a partner in 5 projects so far and is continuously involved in the submission of new proposals.