The Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) is one of the leading research and educational centres in Slovenia. The diverse research areas can be summed up in the study of cultural, social, and natural phenomena, processes, and practices. The Slovenian Migration Institute (SMI) is one of eighteen independent but coordinated and interconnected institutes of ZRC SAZU. The researchers of SMI are focused on emigration and immigration issues, analyses of return migration, ethnicity, migration and integration processes and policies, cultural-artistic production of migrants and different methodological and theoretical research approaches to migration. Their disciplines span from the humanities to social sciences – historiography, literary history, art history, ethnology, anthropology, geography, cultural studies, political studies and sociology. Researchers are involved in international projects and strive to compare their own research with related Slovenian and foreign research methods and results. SMI issues the international scientific journal Dve domovini/Two Homelands and the monograph series Migracije (Migrations). Researchers cooperate with various educational institutions and are therefore actively included in education process. The researchers of SMI have, in collaboration with University of Nova Gorica and other partner institutions from Europe and Africa, developed an international MA study in Migration and Intercultural Relations.

Team members: (left to right) Marina Lukšič Hacin, Mojca Vah Jevšnik,  Nataša Rogelja, Mateja Gliha, Jernej Mlekuž, Kristina Toplak, Nina Juvan (not present)

The Chair of Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship Education at the University of Rostock (UniROS) provides teaching, research and scientific consulting in various topics of vocational education and training (VET). In particular, the chair focuses on the constitution and organisation of teaching and learning processes in different institutions of VET as well as in the adjacent fields of education. In all research and development activities, the relations between individuals, different institutions and conditions of the education system are comprehensively considered. As a matter of principle, the tools of qualitative social research are applied. Furthermore, the chair intensively cooperates in all research and development projects with stakeholders/institutions dealing with practical VET issues.

Laboratory for Social Research of University of Venice (UniVE) – The Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage carries out sociological studies and research, with particular attention to work, social transformations, inequalities, migrations, racism, welfare systems, and social citizenship. It has participated in a number of national and international projects. The university has both national and international reputation for its academic excellence in the fields of teaching and research. In 2015, it has been rated among the top 200 universities for Economics and Econometrics, History and Modern Languages in the QS World University Ranking by Subjects. Since 2007, it has been awarded 110 grants to fund both individual and collaborative European and international projects, 70 of which are funded within the framework of the 7FP and Horizon 2020 schemes.

The European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (EC) is a UN-affiliated intergovernmental organisation that was established in Vienna in 1974 and is concerned with all aspects of social welfare policy and research. The EC provides expertise in the fields of welfare and social policy development, in particular in areas where multi- or interdisciplinary approaches, integrated policies and inter-sectoral action are called for. Research activities within the EC are organised into two larger units: (1) Work and Welfare Programme; and (2) Health and Care Programme. One of the core strengths of the EC is the bridging of knowledge and policy evidence between the “Europe of 56” (UNEurope) and in particular EU countries and (potential) candidate countries and the countries of the Eastern partnership. The bridging function is based on three main pillars: 1) Comparative social policy and welfare research; 2) Knowledge transfer and public forum function; and 3) Policy consultancy; as well as on the premise of close collaboration and participation with the national governments of European countries, the European Union and other relevant stakeholders at the European and national levels.

Team members (left to right): Sandra Scharf, Sonila Danaj, Anette Scoppetta, Katarina Hollan

The National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) from Romania is a public institution for higher education and research. Its main objective is to form and develop professional competencies in the area of political, administrative, social and economic science, and thus contribute to change and development at the national and international levels in the spirit of democratic values and principles and openness to European cooperation. The university has 4 faculties, 1 department, 9 fields of study for undergraduate trainings, 52 master programs, and 4 domains for doctoral studies. It also benefits from 18 research centres, which cover a wide range of domains such as: management and leadership, communication, European studies, public affairs, gender studies, Roma documentation and research, as well as migration. The Centre of European Studies on Human Migration, established in 2014, focuses on studying migration from a multidisciplinary perspective as a social, cultural, demographic, economic, and political phenomenon.