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YouCount conference
4-5 december, brussels
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A Sense of community
Empowerment & Social inclusion
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Sense of social belonging

How does the youth feel about their lives?

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Thursday, 02 November 2023 18:50

Conference Program

Updated program, November 30, 2023

 

December 4: 14. 00 – 17.00  

Nordic House, Brussel, Rue du Luxembourg 3 / 5, 1000 Brussel

 

Pre-conference Workshop and Exhibition  

Update! First part of the workshop from about 14.00 – 14. 45 CET will be hybrid.
Link to the zoom webinar: https://oslomet.zoom.us/j/67322175440?pwd=TXExZzR6MnlPNmtld0tzWlhNNWxBQT09

The pre-conference workshop and exhibition is targeted for those interested in learning more about how to conduct hands-on citizen social science in practice, in general and with a special focus on young people. The workshop is based on the project’s multiple case study which includes ten local case projects in nine countries across Europe, and the exhibition will provide more concrete descriptions from the cases. 

The workshop will consist of a short introduction to the YouCount project and a conceptual framework for youth citizen social science. This will be followed by a short overview of key aspects of hands-on youth citizen social science as detailed in the agenda below.  

We will then invite participants to “take a journey throughout Europe”, select the places they would like to explore, and then visit our café tables with researchers and young citizen scientists from the ten cases, focusing on special aspects of doing citizen social science in practice. 

Our café tables will feature posters from the cases, including our many Oops and Aha moments to trigger sharing of experiences and discussions. 

During the workshop, we will also present and discuss a first draft of the upcoming Handbook and Toolkits for youth citizen social science for further refinement based on the participant’s feedback. 

 

Exhibition (onsite and virtual)

The exhibition is part of the workshop. Co-designed with co-researchers, it represents their own story, essential findings, and experiences. At each "station", young citizen scientists will guide participants through the case country's findings and possibly offer a small taste experience. 

Those participating online will have access to a simplified visual representation of the onsite exhibition. They will be able to investigate the different "stations” through the case countries and their findings. The exhibition will also be part of the interactive session about the potential for youth citizen social science and its challenges, a topic that will be discussed in the second day of the conference.

Link to the virtual exhibition: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVNRkFnbk=/?share_link_id=680278430138

 

Agenda and time schedule for the workshop

Time

What

Topic

Presenters

Coffee and croissants

14.00 – 14.15

Introduction 

Welcome

Brief overview of the project 

Conceptual framework

Project Coordinator
Reidun Norvoll, OsloMet

14.15 – 14.45

Presentations 

How to conduct hands-on citizen social science with youth and local stakeholders in practice?

Including, 

  1. Co-creative and inclusive approaches
  2. Establish and manage a project 
  3. Recruitment, involvement and engagement
  4. Training and support
  5. Methods
  6. Communication
  7. Going beyond results: Evaluation
  8. Maximizing and measuring impact 

Authors from the handbook

14.45 – 15.00

Introducing the Europe Café & Exhibition

Aina Landsverk Hagen, Sara Berge Lorenzen & Cathrine Winther

15.00 – 15.30

Coffee break

Walk, talk, and snack in the lounge/exhibition area

15.30 – 16.45

The Europe Café: Interactive session

Aha & Oops moments from 10 cases in YouCount

16.45 – 17.00

Summing up

Workshop moderators

17.10 – 17.40 Movie-time with some beverages before the welcome reception!  The Hungary B case team shows their sci-fi movie:
"What is social innovation? A mystery-documentary" (2023)
(25 minutes) with a short presentation 
Gina Barta, Dominka Ágoiston, Ágnes Bozsó, Márton Oblath

 

Welcome reception 18.00 – 20.30 

Nordic House, Brussels, Rue du Luxembourg 3 / 5, 1000 Brussel

Please stay with us after the workshop for the Welcome Reception from 18.00 – 20.30 hosted by the Oslo Region European Office (ORE)

At 18.30, we will have a greeting by Director of ORE, Gunnar Selvik, the Counsellor for research at the Mission of Norway to the EU Geir Arnulf and Reidun Norvoll, YouCount Coordinator, OsloMet.

 

December 5: 09.00 – 17.00 

(Exhibition lasts to 18.00)  

 

Final Conference (hybrid)

NH Brussels EU Berlaymont, Boulevard Charlemagne 11 - 19, 1000 Brussels 

The Final Conference will focus on presenting and discussing the main learnings from the YouCount project together with participants and key stakeholders from Europe and globally concerning our three main strands of inquiry: 

  • To develop and validate a conceptual and methodological framework for hands-on youth citizen social science.
  • To use this framework to empower young people and co-create new knowledge of social inclusion and social innovations with policymakers and other stakeholders.
  • To increase knowledge of the actual outcomes and costs- and benefits of youth citizen social science, broadly understood. 

Streaming link (Vimeo) for the conference day

 

The program is split into four main sessions: 

 

Session 1: Introduction to the YouCount project

After a short introduction to the YouCount project by Project Coordinator Reidun Norvoll, Project Adviser and Project Officer Katharina Buse from the Research Executive Agency (REA) will connect YouCount to the overall ambition of the H2020 Science with and for Society programme. Our keynote speaker, Professor Alan Irwin will then contextualise the project in his introductory speech about the history and future of citizen social science. 

 

Session 2: Key findings and experiences related to the development, practices and evaluation of youth citizen social science

After presentations of the conceptual framework for youth citizen social science and research findings, there will be a "walk- and talk"- session in the exhibition area, where small groups discuss and identify some key potentials and challenges related to youth citizen social science.

These issues will inform a roundtable discussion, where young citizen scientists, representatives from the European Commission, academia and related EU citizen science projects will reflect on how citizen social science can be further improved and supported. So far, Policy Officer Gabriella Leo from the European Commission, DG R&I, Open science and Research Infrastructure Unit; Professor of Theory of Science Dick Kasperowski from Gothenburg University; Scientific Coordinator and COESO project coordinator Alessia Smaniotto; and, Science Adviser Asya Salnikova from the Time4Cs project will participate in the discussions.

 

Session 3: Findings from YouCount on social inclusion and innovation - implications for social sciences and social and youth policymaking

The next session after the lunch break, will focus on the role of citizen social science for social change through social innovation and policymaking. After a presentation of results concerning social innovation, we will look closer into the findings from the social inclusion research and discuss the most important and interesting findings in interactive group discussions. 

Young citizen scientists, social scientists including Josep Perelló, CoAct project coordinator and OpenSystems-UB research; key stakeholders such as Deputy Head of Unit Mina Stareva from the European Commission, Fair Societies & Cultural Heritage; representative from the European Youth Forum Boshko Stankovski; Sandra Paola Alvarez from the International Organisation of Migration Europe; and, Tomas De Groote from Sociale InnovatieFabriek will share their own perspectives.

 

Session 4: You Count's overall impact and way forward in the European and international context.

This session will look closer into the possible impact of youth citizen social science based in the findings from the YouCount project, and then discuss implications for the European and international context featuring Claudia Fabó Cartas, Project officer at ECSA and Project Manager of the EU-funded project ECS, and Laone Bukamu Hulela, Director of Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA) who will share closing remarks.

 

Agenda

08.30 – 09.00

Registration 

Visit our exhibition and meet YouCount’s young citizen scientists during the day!

09.00 – 10.00  

Session 1: Introduction

Moderator: Aina Landsverk Hagen, OsloMet

09.00 – 09.10

Welcome 

Aina Landsverk Hagen, OsloMet 

09.10 – 09.15 Sneak peak of the documentary film from the Oslo- case. Made by the local youth social entrepreneurship «Ildfluene» (Fireflies)  Dichino Nguyen, part of the youth editorial team

09.15 – 09.25

A brief introduction to the YouCount project 

Project Coordinator, Reidun Norvoll, OsloMet 

09.25 – 09.40  

How can YouCount contribute to supporting citizen science within the EU and as part of the Science with and for Society - program? 

PO Katharina Buse, REA, EU

09.40 – 10.00

The history and future of citizen social science 

Professor Alan Irwin, Copenhagen Business School  

(online)

10.00 – 13.00

Session 2: Youth citizen social science  

Moderator: Aina Landsverk Hagen, OsloMet

10. 00 – 10:25

Conceptual framework for youth citizen social science (WP1) 

 A Participatory Approach to Communication

Professor Eglė Butkevičienė, KTU

Researcher Patricia Canto Farachala, Orkestra, FD

10.25 – 10.45

Coffee break 

10.45 – 11.00

Youth citizen social science in practice - key experiences and insights from the multiple case study 

  

Professor Julie Ridley, UCLan 

11.00 – 11.15

Experiences with the YouCount App Toolkit 

Researcher Ingar Brattbakk, OsloMet

11.15 – 11.30

What are the outcomes of Y-CSS? Key findings from the evaluation study (WP4) 

PreDoc Melanie Saumer, Professor Jörg Matthes UNIVIE

11.30 – 12.00 

Travel through Europe in the onsite and virtual exhibition: what are the key potentials and challenges when it comes to (youth) citizen social science?

Mentimeter exercise 1

All participants

12.00 – 13.00

Roundtable discussion 1 

How to strengthen co-creative/participatory citizen social science with young people in policy and practice? 

Implications of the identified key issues, and the learnings from the YouCount project, for citizen science, science policy and institutional changes.

Discussions with key stakeholderstogether with moderator Patricia Canto Farachala, Orkestra, FD from the YouCount project

  

Participants:

Gabriella Leo. Policy Officer, DG R&I, Unit A4, EC 

Professor Dick Kasperowski, Gothenburg University

Asya Salnikova, ESF/ Scientific Adviser Time4CS project

Alessia Smaniotto, (EHESS/OPERAS), 

Project Coordinator COESO project  

13.00 – 14.00

Lunch 

Visit the exhibition 

14.00 – 16.00 

Session 3: Youth citizen social science contributing to social inclusion and innovation

Moderator: Eglė Butkevičienė, KTU

14.00 – 14.15

To what extent can Y-CSS contribute to social change and how? 

The role of CSS in social innovation 

György Pataki, senior research fellow/

Alexandra Czeglédi, research fellow

14.15 – 14.35 

New knowledge of young people's views on and experiences with social inclusion, and positive drivers to social inclusion 

Professor Fortuna Procentese and PostDoc Flora Gatti, UNINA

Suzanne Wilson, Researcher, UCLan

14.35 – 15.35

 

Roundtable 2 Implications of social inclusion and innovation findings for (citizen) social science research and for future youth/social policy 

 

 

Which findings are important takeaways for future innovation and policymaking to increase social inclusion?


How can Y-CSS be utilized to create citizen engagement, social innovation, and informed policymaking for increased social inclusion?

Discussions with key stakeholders and youths together with Suzanne Wilson from UCLan and the YouCount project.

 

Q & A session with the audience

 

Ms. Mina STAREVA, Deputy Head of Unit, RTD.D3, Fair Societies & Cultural Heritage, EC  

 

 

Boshko Stankovski, 
European Youth Forum and Senior Programme Officer, Governance Section/ Democratization Department, OSCE Mission in Kosovo

 

 

Paola Alvarez, Regional Office for the EEA, EU, and NATO. International Organization for Migration, Brussels

Tomas De Groote, Sociale InnovatieFabriek, Brussels

Marc Dunne,
Preston City Council

 

Josep Perelló, OpenSystems-UB research leader and CoAct project coordinator, University of Barcelona & UBICS

 

 

 

15.35 – 16.00
“Grab a coffee and some snacks” on the way

“Walk- and talk”: What do you find as the most interesting and important findings for future social innovation and policymaking to increase social inclusion?

Mentimeter Exercise 2

 All participants

16.00 – 17.00 

Session 4: Closing up and way forward 

Moderator: Eglė Butkevičienė, KTU

16:00 – 16:45

What are the impacts of YouCount and how can we enhance the benefits and impact of citizen social science?

Short presentations of ECSA & the ECS project, and of YALDA, before discussing: 

Key takeaways and next steps forward to strengthen CSS with and for youth, and its contribution to social inclusion in Europe and internationally.

Usue Lorenz, 

Researcher, Orkestra, FD/

Susana Franco, Researcher Orkestra, FD 

Claudia Fabó Cartas, Scientific advisor ECSA and Project Manager ECS project

Laone Bukamu Hulela, Director, Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA)

16:45 – 17.00

Closing up and thank you   

Reidun Norvoll, 

Project Coordinator, OsloMet

And members of the YouCount project team

17:00 – 18:00

Visit our Exhibition! 

 

This deliverable includes a presentation of the social innovation analysis of the ten YouCount hands-on citizen social science (CSS) case studies implemented under YouCount WP3 Task 3.3 'Cross-case analysis of local innovation, social change and the innovative potential of CSS'. The cross-case social innovation analysis explored the ten YouCount hands-on CSS case studies as social innovation processes that created new framings for youth social inclusion, provided space for new social encounters for social actors otherwise rarely meet (including most prominently intergenerational encounters), developed new social practices for collaborative research and innovation, and enacted a new temporality compared to conventional social science research. The cross-case social innovation analysis also explored the CSS cases as creating social impacts at multiple levels that included the increased self-confidence of R-YCS, the enhanced sense of accomplishment and pride by R-YCS, the strengthened feeling of social belonging by R-YCS, the establishment of new network constellations, the importance of 'research relationships,' the enactment of a relational approach to doing research, the stakeholders' perspective change on youth, and the future collaborations that were inspired. The technological perspective on the YouCount cases highlighted the role and impacts of technology and digital tools in CSS. The adaptation of these tools had both positive and negative effects on social inclusion, engagement, learning processes and interpersonal interactions. The analysis showed that the normalisation of technology can lead to digital fatigue  – with young people opting for analogue, offline methods  –  and a digital divide  –  when certain members of the CSS research groups need further support in interacting with technology in the research process. Finally, analysing the role of CSS in social innovation revealed that 'CSS as social innovation' can be detected in the YouCount cases as 'enacting CSS as a micro-level social inclusion process' and as 'a relational research approach', while some limitations are also shared. CSS as a tool for social innovation can be demonstrated through the creativity it enables, the 'school of democracy' and empowerment it enacts, the innovative potential it may bring to some sectors (e.g. education, employment), while some cautionary notes are also provided on the paradox of technology mediation.

This deliverable is part of the H2020 EU YouCount project running from 2021- 2023. It is provided by the ECSA Working group on Empowerment, inclusion, and equity (EIE WG) jointly hosted by the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) and the Living Knowledge Network (LKN) in collaboration with OsloMet as Coordinator and KTU as leader for Work package 1 (WP1) focusing on stakeholder involvement and the development of a conceptual framework for youth citizen social science (Y-CSS).  

This deliverable shares our learnings on youth-centred CSS from the joint webinars by EIE WG and YouCount held in autumn 2021 and September 2023 with a particular focus on the webinar 2023. It has been created with contributions and experiences from youth and youth co-researchers, practitioners and researchers working with youth and relevant stakeholders across 9 European countries. This collective expertise provides important insights for the design of future citizen social science projects with youth, as well as practical suggestions on how to enable and support youth to meaningfully contribute to Y-CSS.

Wednesday, 25 October 2023 17:34

Practicalities: Conference Venues and more

The YouCount Final Conference will take place from 4-5 December 2023 at two locations in Brussels. The Nordic House is the venue for the pre-seminar on the first day (4 December). The main conference on the second day (5 December) will take place at the Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont. The exhibition will travel and can be visited at both venues.

Pre-seminar on Monday (4 December) at the Nordic House:

When?

DECEMBER 4, 2023 | 14.00-17.00

Where?

Nordic House, Rue du Luxembourg 3/5, 1000 Brussels - https://osloregion.org/en/contact-us/brussels

How to get there:

Oslo Region European Office is located in newly renovated offices centrally located in the EU quarter in a building called Nordic House. Please find directions for public transport and parking opportunities below:

By subway: The subway station Trone for lines 2 + 6 is located 100 meters (3 minutes walking distance) from the Nordic House. For more information, please visit: STIB-MIVB - Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company

By bus: The bus stop Trone covering several bus routes is located 3 meters (1 minute walking distance) from the Nordic house. For more information, please visit: https://www.stib-mivb.be/index.htm?l=en

By train: The train station Brussel-Luxemburg is located 600 meters (10 minutes walking distance) from the Nordic House. For more information, please visit: BRU.-LUXEMBURG/BRUX.-LUXEMBOURG (belgianrail.be)

By plane: From Brussels Airport the trains S19 Charleroi-Central or IC Dinant leave to the station Brussel-Luxemburg (20 minutes) located in walking distance to the Nordic House (see above). For more information, please visit: https://www.belgiantrain.be/en

By car: The parking garage Trône Gare de Bruxelles Luxembourg (BePark) is located directly in Rue du Luxembourg 3. For more information, please visit: Parking Trône Gare de Bruxelles Luxembourg - BePark Votre solution de parking

*If you bring your luggage with you, there will be a storage room available in the offices on the 5th floor.

**The building is accessible for people using a wheel chair.

 

Final conference on Tuesday (5 December) at Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont:

When?

DECEMBER 5, 2023 | 09.00-17.00

Where?

Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont, Bd Charlemagne 11/19 - Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont (nh-hotels.com)

How to get there:

Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont is situated in the European Quarter, with proximity to important EU institutions. Please find directions for public transport and parking opportunities below:

By subway: The subway station Schuman for lines 1 + 5 is located 270 meters (5 minutes walking distance) from Hotel Berlaymont. For more information, please visit: https://www.stib-mivb.be/index.htm?l=nl

By bus: The bus stop Schuman for bus number 12, 21 and 79 is located 190 meters (3 minutes walking distance) from Hotel Berlaymont. For more information, please visit: STIB-MIVB - Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company

By train: The Station Brussel-Schuman is located 600 meters (8 minutes walking distance) from Hotel Berlaymont. For more information, please visit: https://www.belgiantrain.be/en?utm_medium=maps&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=static&utm_content=textlink_all_profile_brussel-schuman

By plane: From Brussels Airport, the trains S19 Charleroi-Central leave to the station Brux./Brus.-Schuman (15 minutes) located in walking distance to Hotel Berlaymont (see above). https://www.belgiantrain.be/en

By car: ParkBee Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont is located on Boulevard Charlemagne 11-19, 10 meters (1 minute walking distance) from Hotel Berlaymont. For more information, please visit: ParkBee Maps

*The building, hotel rooms and facilities are accessible for people using a wheel chair.

 

Exhibition on Monday (4 December) at the Nordic House & Tuesday (5 December) at Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont:

When?

DECEMBER 4, 2023 | 18.00-20.30 + DECEMBER 5, 2023 | 09.00-17.00

Where?

Nordic House, Rue du Luxembourg 3/5, 1000 Brussels - https://osloregion.org/en/contact-us/brussels + Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont, Bd Charlemagne 11/19 - Hotel NH Brussels EU Berlaymont (nh-hotels.com)

For more information, please see above.

 

Some general information:

  • If you want to travel within Brussels by bike, there are several bicycle rental services available: Villo, Pro Velo, Blue bike. For more information, please visit: Bicycle | Visit Brussels
Wednesday, 25 October 2023 15:19

About Presenters

Session 1 and 2

 

Keynote Speaker:

Asya Salnikova portrait

 

Alan Irwin
Professor in the Department of Organisation, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Alan Irwin has been an important source of inspiration for the YouCount project through his book: “Citizen Science” from 1995. This had the ambition of contributing to the democratization of the sciences through citizen science. Between 2007 and 2014, he was Dean of Research at Copenhagen Business School. In addition, he was Acting President during 2011. Previously, he was Professor of Science and Technology Policy, and Dean of Social and Environmental Studies, at the University of Liverpool. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. He has an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg. Alan Irwin recently chaired the European Commission’s mutual learning exercise (MLE) on Citizen Science initiatives.

 

Speakers:

Asya Salnikova portrait

 

Katharina Buse
Project Advisor, European Research Executive Agency, REA.C4 - Reforming European R&I and Research Infrastructure

Katharina Buse hold a Master’s Degree in Political Science and another one in Public Administration from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). She has background from the private and public sector and has worked for different national administrators, EEAS and in the EC in several periods. She is currently the project officer for YouCount and other related EU Citizen Science projects within the H2020 SwafS and the Horizon Europe programmes.

 

Participants in the round table discussion 1

Asya Salnikova portrait

 

Asya Salnikova
Asya Salnikova is a Science Officer at European Science Foundation (ESF) Science Connect.

Asya Salnikova is currently working on EU-funded projects Time4CS and PATTERN within the Inclusive Science cluster, dealing with Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and more specifically, with citizen engagement, inclusion, gender equality and Open Science. She holds a PhD in International Law from the University of Strasbourg and has vast experience in project management, including EU/Council of Europe Joint Programmes, and in developing and supporting European and international collaborations.

About the Time4CS project
TIME4CS aims at supporting science with and for society by facilitating a way in which the scientific ecosystem could better take societal views into consideration by supporting Research Performing Organisations - i.e. research entities such as universities and research centres - in defining and implementing institutional changes that can lead to a better and more effective engagement of citizens in research and innovation. Those institutional changes inside RPOs will entail transformation of their governance systems by taking into account both the social - mindset of people inside the organisation – and the organisational - norms, protocols, procedures, policy - aspects of RPOs. To facilitate this process, TIME4CS has identified 4 Intervention Areas that alone or combined can stimulate the institutional changes necessary to promote public engagement in R&I activities: Research; Education and Awareness; Support resources and Infrastructure; Policy and Assessment.

 

Gabriella Leo portrait

 

Gabriella Leo
Policy Officer, DG R&I, Unit A4, Open Science, EC

Gabriella Leo is policy officer at the DG Research & Innovation “Open Science and Research Infrastructures” unit of the European commission. In DG R&I she works on policy development and monitoring on open access and in developing and implementing policy for citizen and societal engagement in R&I actions under the European Research Area. Before joining the European Commission in 2021, she has been working for over 30 years as researcher at the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy dealing with scientific research and research project management in the fields of advanced materials for sensor and photonics applications to face main societal challenges. Her background is physics and material science.

 

Dirk Kasperowski portrait

 

Dick Kasperowski
Professor at Gothenburg University, Department of Philosophy, Linguistics, Theory of Science, Sweden.

Informed by current perspectives in science and technology studies (STS), Dick Kasperowski has studied the development of Citizen Science over several years. His main interests encompass governance of science, scientific citizenship and the management of uncertainty in public scientific controversies. The analytical focus of his research concerns how political and scientific representations are related to each other and how (scientific) citizenship is connected to research policy and scientific practices. Current research focuses the increasing trend in environmental activism to use legal institutions and infrastructures for citizen science to affect policy and regulation.

 

Alessia Smaniotto portrait

 

Alessia Smaniotto
Head of the International Department for OpenEdition Center (EHESS), Citizen science officer for OPERAS, and Scientific Coordinator of the EU-funded project COESO.

Alessia Smaniotto is trained in philosophy, journalism, and sociology. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). She develops citizen science projects and services for the OPERAS community, while working at OpenEdition Center, a French infrastructure devoted to Open Science and scholarly communication in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Before joining the academia, Alessia worked as a journalist in public and private media in Italy.

About the COESO project
COESO aims at fostering the growth of participatory research in the social sciences. It facilitates and supports participatory research by funding and accompanying 10 citizen science pilot projects. Each pilot presents a distinct model of interaction between different kinds of stakeholders, addressing specific societal issues. The joint work with the pilots and the observation of their dynamics of co-operation, enabled the development of a dedicated online project management, VERA, that is also co-designed with them.

 


 

Session 3: Youth citizen social science contributing to social inclusion and innovation

 

Participants in the round table discussion 2

Asya Salnikova portrait

 

Mina Stareva
Deputy Head of Unit, RTD.D3, Fair Societies & Cultural Heritage, EC

Mina Starevais holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from Robert Schuman – Strasbourg University and a Master of Arts degree in Political Sciences from the College of Europe. Prior to her current position, she has taken part in the Science with and for society unit, and also worked on developing the European Research Area policy and international cooperation.

 

Asya Salnikova portrait

 

Josep Perelló
OpenSystems-UB research leader and CoAct project coordinator at the University of Barcelona and UBICS.

Josep Perelló is a full Professor at the Department of Condensed Matter Physics of the University of Barcelona and researcher at the University of Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS). He leads OpenSystems-UB, a research group that developed scientific research projects in urban contexts through citizen participation and artistic practices. He also founded the Barcelona Citizen Science Office, a project promoted by the Barcelona City Council. He has run more than 25 collective citizen science experiments with more than 10,000 participants, mostly related to human behavior and social issues. Some of them are related to climate justice, climate action, air quality and urban heat. He has coordinated the CoAct (Co-designing Citizen Social Science for Collective Action) EU-funded project.

About the CoAct project
The CoAct project (2020-2023) focused on citizen cocial science understood as participatory research co-designed and directly driven by citizen groups sharing a social concern. The project launched a new approach to face social global concerns related to mental health care, youth employment, environmental justice and gender equality by engaging citizens as co-researchers from the design to the interpretation of the results and their transformation into concrete actions. The approach was based on the following principles to enable the provision of socially robust scientific knowledge: Thematic and local integration; Citizens as equal stakeholders; and Bottom-up collaboration for socially robust knowledge production. The aim is to promote social change and evidence­-informed policy and collective action based on a constant and open dialogue, both with citizens and in the public sphere.

 

Asya Salnikova portrait

 

Boshko Stankovski
Researcher in international law and international relations, and part of the YouCount advisory board as a former member of the European Youth Forum (EYF) Pool of Experts.

Boshko Stankovski has background in Law and holds an MPhil in international relations from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He has been commissioned as an expert consultant, producing reports and case studies for the Danish Refugee Council, the Council of Europe and the Berghof Foundation, and also Co-founder and Member of Advisory Board, Centre for Intercultural Dialogue, North Macedonia. He has hold fellowship at the Harvard Law School, University of Graz, NATO Defence College and the European University Institute. He was a former member of the EYF Pool of Experts. Hiss field of expertise includes, inter alia, youth participation, youth capacity-building, youth and conflict, and human rights education.

About the European Youth Forum
The vision of the European Youth Forum is to be the voice of young people in Europe, where young people are equal citizens and are encouraged and supported to achieve their fullest potential as global citizens. The European Youth Forum is the biggest platform of youth organisations in Europe, representing over 100 youth organisations, which bring together tens of millions of young people from all over Europe. The European Youth Forum works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives and advocates for their rights. The Youth Forum promotes youth participation, making young people catalysts for positive change and contributors of innovative solutions to Europe’s challenges.

 

Asya Salnikova portrait

 

Tomas De Groote
Knowledge manager, Sociale InnovatieFabriek, Brussels, Belgium.

Tomas De Groote has coordinated action research in the field of societal impact for social entrepreneurship and social investment at Sociale InnovatieFabriek since 2015, and before that worked for civil society organisations in the culture and youth sector. He has extensive experience with youth involved policymaking and practical innovation.

About the SocialeInnovatie Fabriek
The mission of Sociale InnovatieFabriek (‘Social Innovation Factory’) is to stimulate and support social innovation and social entrepreneurship in Flanders/Belgium, so that the major societal challenges can be tackled. Since the kickoff in summer 2013, more than 1000 concepts were supported by our programs and expertise, but also through our network of enablers, and access to finance.

 

Sandra Paola Alvarez Portrait

 

Sandra Paola Alvarez
Senior Regional Thematic Specialist, Labour Mobility and Social Inclusion. Regional Office for the EEA, EU, and NATO. International Organization for Migration, Brussels. Belgium

Sandra Paola Alvarez provides thematic and strategic advice to IOM country Offices in the region within the areas of labour migration and ethical recruitment, migration and development, integration, and social cohesion. She also liaises with European Union (EU) Institutions and Member States on IOM policies and activities in these thematic areas. Previously, she was head of programming and research at IOM’s Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, and Migration and Development Specialist at IOM Headquarters in Geneva. . She is also representing IOM in YouCount advisory board.

About International Organization of Migration (IOM) UN & Regional Office for the EEA, the European Union and NATO (RO Brussels)
The IOM RO Brussel work is guided by IOM's Migration Governance Framework’s (MiGOF) principles and objectives, which aim to facilitate orderly, safe and regular migration and mobility of people through planned and well-managed migration policies, and the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom Regional Strategy 2020-2024. The Regional Office in Brussel supports policies, programmes and operations that pursue the well-being of migrants and societies through a rights-based approach to the governance of human mobility, to, from and within the region, which is coherent, holistic and balanced. The Office acts as IOM’s liaison and coordination office to the European Union (EU) and NATO and other key Brussels-based stakeholders. They support 28 IOM Country Offices in the region and IOM Offices worldwide on EU-related policy, programmes, legislation and cooperation and resource management and engage in a broad range of areas at the regional and global levels.

 

 


 

Session 4: Closing up and outlook

 

Speakers:

Claudia Fabo Cartas portrait

 

Claudia Fabó Cartas
Project officer at ECSA and Project Manager of the EU-funded project ECS

Claudia Fabó Cartas has worked at ECSA since 2021 and participated in several citizen science projects. By coordinating the ECS project, she holds a key position related to the developing of citizen science in the European context, and beyond.

About the European Citizen Science (ECS) project
European Citizen Science aims to create a globally connected, inclusive and strong citizen science community for societal change in Europe. The European Citizen Science project has the overall objective to widen and strengthen the citizen science community in Europe through capacity building and awareness raising activities, such as the creation of a European Citizen Science Academy and the establishment of a network of 28 ECS Ambassadors. It builds upon the previous EU-funded actions such as the eu-citizen.science project and Cos4Cloud and on the enormous achievements in citizen science over the past decade.

 

Laone Bukamu Portrait

 

Laone Bukamu Hulela
Co-founder and Senior Adviser, Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA)

Laone Bukamu Hulela is very passionate about inspiring young Africans to dare to dream and to adamantly pursue the implementation of their dreams and thereby show the greatness of the African continent and its people. She currently works as the Chief Investment Officer at Symbiotic Capital a pan African infrastructure investment fund. Prior she worked at Africa50 an infrastructure investment fund established by the African Development Bank. She holds an MBA with a Distinction from Harvard Business School and is also a graduate of Harvard College. Ms. Hulela has varied career experiences having worked for the United Nations in New York, where she also served as President of the United Nations Africa Club. Prior to this engagement, she was at McKinsey & Company in Johannesburg office and also worked at Standard Bank Africa in Corporate and Investment Banking.

About Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA)
YALDA envisions an international network of inspired, empowered and proactive young African leaders who hold influential decision-making positions, are running their own organizations or companies, culminating in a prosperous and developed African continent. YALDA provides a forum for youth on the African continent and those abroad with a commitment to the welfare of Africa. By networking with professionals, mentors and each other, members will increase their capacity to take on positive leadership roles in their universities, countries and on the continent. Through YALDA, members will implement their short and long-term visions for Africa.

 

In this paper we explore the transformative power of a collaborative research on our own academic perceptions and functions. We have been working with hard of hearing youths since the autumn of 2021 in Szeged (Hungary) in a social citizen science case study within the YouCount project to increase social inclusion in the city. During the process, we, authors of this paper, as senior hearing academics, identified significant aspects where our academic functions led to inner transformations. These experiences led us to recognize the overwhelming importance of relational aspects and caring, the perceived and fostered “slowness” of the research. Inclusion can be viewed as a joint and interdependent transformation of all actors involved towards the defragmentation of community.
How can citizen social science contribute to addressing one of the three edges of action research (AR) identified by Larrea (2022) as the stagnation of global democratisation? And how can action research’s long tradition creating spaces where researchers and practitioners work together in a shared commitment to democratic social change (Brydon-Miller et al., 2003) inform the nascent citizen social sciences field? The three articles included in the thematic series on the YouCount project in the International Journal of Action Research show how action research and citizen social science can be combined in different social contexts with different purposes and can strengthen democratic social change. Moreover, by directly involving citizens, particularly young people that find themselves at risk of exclusion, they offer clues on the challenges of creating inclusive environments as a prerequisite for democratic social change. 
This paper contributes to the discussion around the epistemic foundations of citizen social science (CSS) by drawing from participatory communication. We argue that the latter’s long history reflecting on the ethical and political challenges that emerge from its dialogical perspective to empowerment and social change could enhance the nascent CSS concept. In establishing that relation, we also explore how CSS can further develop participatory communication. To that end, we look into YouCount, an ongoing CSS project that, from its inception, has understood dialogical communication as inextricably linked to the research process. Our main findings are that: (i) old challenges related to the instrumental use of participatory communication are relevant to CSS; (ii) CSS offers a space to transcend entrenched narratives around knowledge production and communication that hindered the participatory communication paradigm; and, (iii) CSS has the potential to expand participatory communication’s scope through its use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) but faces important challenges related to research control of personal data and disclosure. 

This article concludes that YouCount, as one of the 7 social science projects out of 28 citizen science projects in Hungary, goes beyond the level of passive, minimal involvement, where volunteers can meaningfully participate in the research process and bring about changes in their environment and communities. Local case studies of the projects Community Archaeology, Citizen Science Mentoring, Creek Rákos citizen science project, Life in undies, PET bottles spotting, Air working group, and YouCount are succeeding in involving certain communities in the research process in ways in which participants could contribute to framing the research questions, creative research outputs as well as publications or dissemination of research results.  

The article describes the experience of involving young people in two youth participatory research projects on political and social engagement. These research projects are both focused on municipalities in the southern part of the Stockholm region and focus on the methods used to engage representative groups of young people in interdisciplinary research in the context of spatial planning and local politics. The article presents preliminary results and compares and contrasts the types of problems identified by the young people who participated in these projects in relation to their living environments and neighborhoods.

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About the Project

YouCount will focus on social inclusion, which is understood as equal opportunities for youth participation in society, and will elucidate social participation, connectedness, and social belonging. As elaborated on later, the multiple case studies – consisting of nine co-creative Youth Citizen Social Science projects across Europe – will provide increased knowledge of the positive drivers for social inclusion in general and specific knowledge and innovation about participation, belonging, and citizenship.

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european unionYouCount is funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, GA No.101005931