Actual projects

Summer School of Ethnicity and Migration Studies - 1st Edition

July 19 - August 1, 2010

Partners: Selye János University, Komárno

Masaryk University, Brno

Institute of Public Affairs, Warszawa 

Multicultural Center, Praha

Willa Decius, Krakow

The Woolf Institute, Cambridge

 

Donors: Open Society Foundation, Bratislava

International Visegrad Fund, Bratislava

Intenda Foundation, Bratislava  

CVEK, Bratislava

 

Period: July 19 - August 1, 2010

 

About the Summer School

Summer School of Ethnicity and Migration Studies is a two-week educational program covering topics connected with nationalism and ethnicity, de-ethnization of the public sphere, migration and integration analysis, approaches and policies. Topics connected to de-construction of national myths, analyses of public policies concerning minorities and discussions over desired migration policy models form the core of the Summer school activities.  Through debates, lectures and workshops, it presents a unique informal learning space for student from the Central European countries and creates space for the participants to get familiar with each other’s ideas and initiate international cooperation. Lectures and workshops held by highly qualified experts from the region will be complemented with topical study trips.

 

It starts to be obvious that issues of ethnicity are becoming even more salient in 21sr century than in previous ones. As the latest research conducted by CVEK has shown, the young generation tends to be even more radicalized mainly due to lack of public discussion, adequate education and negative influence provided by the media. The Summer School of Ethnicity and Migration might prove to be one of elements that will secure coming to terms of effects of globalizations without serious consequences.

 

The Summer school will be organized around four modules, lasting 2,5 days each. Topics of particular modules will be changing each year within the following modules:

 

1st Modul:
De-construction of the term nation in Central Europe;

Meanings of nationalism, ethnicity and identity in Central Europe;

Processes of reconciliation between Central European countries.

2nd Modul:
De-ethnization of the public sphere in Central European countries;

Changes and pluralization of identities in globalized times;

Conceptualization of post-national era.

3rd Modul:
Insight into the migration studies in Central European region;

Changes of migration patterns;

Evaluation of migration and integration policies of Central European countries.

4th Modul:
Integration of migrants and aliens in Central Europe;

Migration and social cohesion in Central Europe;

Changes of citizenship boundaries - citizenship and denizenship.

 

Target group

The Summer School aims to create an alternative learning platform for advanced studies for MA Students, PhD students, young researchers, young public officials from countries of Central Europe - Slovakia, Czech republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Lithuania, as well as from countries of Eastern Europe and Balkans. The working language of the School is English, so good communication skills in English are essential.

 

Want to apply?

This year the Summer School of Ethnicity and Migration Studies will take place on 19th July – 1st August in Komárno, Slovak republic. Deadline for submitting applications is 24 May 2010.

 

Your application package should include:
• Application form duly filled and signed
• Motivation letter (not more than one A4 format page)
• CV
• Recommendations*
*Recommendations from one person (from the academia) familiar with the applicants work. Should be in English, printed on letterhead paper and bear the signature of the issuer. No special envelope is needed; recommendations should be simply attached to the application.

 

Send your application by mail to:

CVEK – Center for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture
Klariská 14
811 03 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
 
Moreover, an electronic copy of your application should be submitted to:
novakova@cvek.sk

 

Accepted participants will be informed by 30 May; information will be published on www.cvek.sk.

 

Costs

Registration fee for successful candidates is 50 Euro. Costs of the program, study material, field trips as well as accommodation and board are covered by the organizer. Participants are responsible for their travel costs and insurance.

 

Application form for the Summer School on ethnicity and migration studies here

 

Poster of the 1st edition of the Summer school of ethnicity and migration studies here

Perspectives. Where to direct support for development of Eastern Slovakia?

Research project for the Carpathian Foundation

Partner: Carpathian Foundation 
 
Obdobie: April - October 2010 

 

The aim of the research Where to direct support for development of Eastern Slovakia? is to gather complex information on:

 

1. Amount and distribution of resources that have been invested into projects of non-governmental organizations and local governments focused on development of civil society and the region itself;  

 

2. Share of particular private donors on financing of projects and activities of non-governmental organizations and local governments;

 

3. Impact of invested assets and models based on lessons learned;

 

4. Desired trends for the future and what should be supported in the future by private donors.

 

Two research-evaluation activities will be conducted within the project - analyses of financial support from various donors for non-governmental organizations and local governments analyses of the impact of non-governmental organizations on development of the region of Eastern Slovakia.

 

Research report and presentation of the research at the international conference in October 2010 will be outcomes of the project Where to direct support for development of Eastern Slovakia?

EIF project - Testing of integration policies indicators

Project of the SGI and CVEK

Partner: Slovak Governance Institute, Bratislava

 

Donor: European Fund for Integration of Third Countries Nationals 

Period: February 2010 - March 2011

 

Project Testing of integration policies indicators (TIPI) presents, from the point of view of content and personally, continuing project of the previous one - High quality research - precondition for a successful integration. The above mentioned project brought set of elementary indicators that can be used in the process of measuring successes of integration policies. CVEK research team suggest that there is a need to test integration policies indicators, to differentiate them from indicators of integration and indicators of the Democratic Diversity Management. Project aims to utilize experiences of international surveys such as EMILE, IMISCOE, TSER, WOLIWEB, and INTI. 

 

The main aim of the TIPI project is to test integration policies indicators and to assess successes of particular minority groups integration within various dimensions, with a focus on economic integration.

 

Researchers assess success in several dimensions:

1. Economic integration;

2. Education;

3. Social integration;

4. Political integration;

5. Language;

6. Residential integration.

 

Outcomes of the project:

1. Manual for policy-makers.

2. Academic publications about integration indicators.

3. International workshop for policy-makers and analysts in the sphere of minority integration and integration of third countries nationals. 

EIF project - Integration of third countries nationals on the local level. The role of local governments and other actors in the process.

Research of migrants integration on a local level

Donor: European Fund for Integration of Third Countries Nationals

 

Period: February 2010 - March 2011

 

Project Integration of third countries nationals on the local level - the role of local governments and other actors in the process is focused on mapping and researching of local governments strategies in the process of integration of third countries nationals into the society. This has been rather scarcely approached aspect of integration processes, although local governments are key-actors of the integration process on the local level. Project therefore aims to analyze strategies that local governments apply toward migrants and to analyze activities of other actors of the process.  

 

Main aim of the project is to come with a set of recommendations to improve integration process of migrants in Slovakia on the local level and to contribute to better performance of local governments toward third countries nationals.

 

Among particular aims of the project are:
1. To identify factors that influence performance of local governments in relation to migrants and to analyze strategies applied by local governments in Slovakia toward migrants.

2. Analyze approach of local governments to integration of migrants in Slovakia in comparison to the Czech republic and Austria and to create recommendation how to improve integration of third countries nationals.  

3. To improve approach of local governments to the issue of integration by spreading examples of good practices.

 

Research team conducts qualitative comparative research by using case studies analyses - in Slovakia, the Czech republic, and Austria. Final report will be published in the form of manual for local governments and CVEK plans to organize workshop for local government representatives.

Conference Migrations - Rethinking contemporary migration events

Telč, June 24 - 26, 2010

Partners: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno

Institute for Research on Social Reproduction and Integration, Masaryk University, Brno
Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague
TÁRKI Social Research Institute Inc., Budapest
Institute of Public Affairs, Warszawa

 

Period: June 24 - 26, 2010

 

 

International conference Migrations, rethinking contemporary migration events in Telč, organized in June 24 - 26, 2010 is already a second conference in a row and follows after the successful conference in Telči in 2008. Conference in 2008 focused on theoretical reflections of migration processes and their interpretations, changes in understanding of what exactly does belong into this realm as well as possible consequences of theoretical thinking about migration policy and migration research were discussed. Also conference analyzed several research methods in order to articulate the possibilities of different approaches and special emphasis was put on the vitality of the interdisciplinary approach in studying migration and on demonstrations of innovative research approaches.

 

Conference Migrations, rethinking contemporary migration events develops previous topics specifically in two areas:   

 

Knowledge Production in Migration Studies
In this rather theoretical session we will focus on the practices that, speaking of migrations, transform an event into a research topic and interests that stand behind it. The production and circulation of knowledge on migration has a differing logic in the areas of politics, public life and the academic world. The crucial question is what types of migration are discursively produced as a normal and deviating social process and how different discursive fields interfere.

 

Migrations Policymaking
Theoretical concepts and research findings are re-defined in the political sphere and thus shape contemporary migration events. Political players have usually only slight understanding for broader than a national perspective. To be part of the administration of the nation state also means in some way believing in this "real fiction" or at the very least acting pragmatically in line with it. The essential impact on migrating people’s living conditions enlightens the ethical aspects of migrations policymaking.

 

Keynote speakers of the 2010 conference are:  

 

Prof. Asa Kasher

Asa Kasher is the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Professor Emeritus of Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University in Israel. He is co-author of the Israel Defense Forces Code of Ethics, "The Spirit of the IDF: Values and Basic Principles," 1994. His research covers a broad range of topics in philosophy and ethics, including military ethics and medical ethics, and philosophy of language, as well as issues of Jewish identity. He wrote an influential defense of Israel's 'law of return', justifying it as a form of affirmative action, following periods in which Jews were not allowed to immigrate to many countries. In 2000, Professor Kasher was awarded the Israel Prize for his work in philosophy and ethics.

 

Prof. Endre Sik

Endre Sik is a professor at the ELTE University, Department of Minority Studies, the director of the Centre for Refugee and Migration Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and of the National Focal Point of the European Union Centre for Monitoring Race and Xenophobia. For ten years he was the chairman of Refuge - Association for Helping Migrants. He served as the president of the Hungarian Sociological Association, of the Sociology Committee of the National Research Fund. He is a project manager at TÁRKI Research Institute Inc. His main fields of research are: migration, Diaspora; xenophobia, labor market, informal economy, households' economic behavior; social network capital.

 

Further information can be downloaded at http://ivris.fss.muni.cz/migrations.

 

Accommodation in Telč is available in the Konvikt svatých Andělů

Evaluation of ESF support for enhancing access to the labor market and the social inclusion of migrants and ethnic minorities

Evaluation project for the Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services

Partner: Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services, Kent

 

Beneficiary institution: European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities

Period: January - July 2010

 

The objectives of the study Evaluation of ESF support for enhancing access to the labor market and the social inclusion of migrants and ethnic minorities are to:

 

1. Assess the European Social Fund's support for enhancing access to the labor market and the social inclusion of migrants and ethnic minorities; 
2. Provide guidelines for the Member States on the implementation of ESF Operational Programs in the 2007-2013 programming period in order to target beneficiaries more effectively; 
3. Identify effective means of tackling barriers to the social and labor market integration of migrants and ethnic minorities.

 

The evaluation focuses on ESF interventions in the 2000-2006 programming period, but also examines the implementation of ESF Operational Programs (OPs) to date in the new 2007-2013 period. The evaluation research takes into account activities supported through the EQUAL Community Initiative.

Through case studies and country reports at Member State level and through a thematic report addressing Roma integration issues, the evaluation aims to provide a comparative analysis between the Member States with regard to the main challenges in enhancing access to the labor market and the social inclusion of migrants and ethnic minorities.

 

15 EU countries are included in the research in order to ensure a representative balance. CVEK covers activities of the project in Slovakia, conduct interviews with both policy makers and representatives of beneficiary organizations and prepares overview of ESF and EQUAL in Slovakia and intervention logic of ESF and EQUAL in Slovakia. CVEK analyses treatment of migrants, ethnic and national minorities in selected ESF programs and in EQUAL; coordination of the HP EqOp implementation, roles of various entities in the Monitoring process; roles of various entities in HP EqOp monitoring; and brings examples of good practices.  

Summer School V4 - 9th Edition (2010)

July 4 - 17, 2010

Partners: Willa Decius Association Krakow;

Asociace pro mezinárodní otázky Praha;

Foundation Cracovia Expres Krakow;

EuroRegio Ukraine Kyiv. 

 

Donor: International Visegrad Fund

  

Period: July 4 - 17, 2010 

 

In 2010 CVEK co-organizes already 9th edition of the V4 Summer School at the Willa Decius in Krakow. The 9th edition of the Visegrad Summer School will bring together 50 young Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak students, as well as some students from other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The program will consist of lectures, panel debates and seminars on issues and challenges relevant to the Visegrad Group region, the European Union and beyond. School offeres many opportunities to learn about each other and start an international co-operation between the people and the countries.

 

The program of the ninth edition of the Visegrad Summer School includes debates on current political, cultural and social challenges in the global and European perspective, e.g. extremism, migration issues, Eastern Partnership, environmental protection, energy security policy, climate crisis and also regional and Euroatlantic cooperation. Global poverty, stabilizing missions at Afghanistan, Balkans and Africa will also be discussed. An important part of the democracy section are lectures on the integration role of countries and a presentation of the regional responsibility for global problems. Students apply the theoretical knowledge in practical activities during workshops - they develop, political, social and cultural projects that aim at establishing collaboration between them and their countries. On the weekend participants will be invited for study visits to borderlands of Malopolska region. Students will also attend artistic events and learn about the culture of Krakow.

 

The organizers provide: 
- educational programme and materials
- special events
- accommodation and board

 

Participants cover:
- travel costs to/from/in Krakow
- their own insurance
- registration fee of 75 EURO

 

Call for applications for the Visegrad Summer School opens on 1 March 2010.

The deadline for applications is 31 March 2010.

 

Accepted participants will be informed by 30 April 2010,  information will be published also on the Willa Decius web site.

 

Coordination at the Willa Decius:

Jadwiga Figiel-Stoch, project coordinator, summerschool@villa.org.pl

 

Application form here 

 

V4 Summer school poster here 

RAXEN 11

FRA network

Donor: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) 

Period: January 2009 - December 2009  

Also during 2009 CVEK continued, together with an initiative People against Racism, to collect and analyze data on racism and xenophobia in Slovakia. Racism and Xenophobia European Information Network (RAXEN) was established by European Monitoring Center of Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) that was changed into the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2007. The main objective of FRA is to offer broad audience in the EU-25 objective, reliable and comparable data on issues of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism in the territory of member states and to contribute to formulation of effective measures designed to fight racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

 

RAXEN Network consists of 25 national groups, one group operating in each member state. National groups are partners of FRA providing needed information and data on national level. Center for Research of Ethnicity and Culture together with People Against Racism form national group for Slovakia. Particular national groups carry out different tasks specified by FRA, collect information and statistical data about various activities in the area of fight against racism and xenophobia, work out general (general situation in the country) as well as specific reports (employment, education, housing, etc.).

 

In 2010 CVEK will work on 2 thematic studies that will be even more than in the past focused on status of asylum seekers and migrants in the Slovak republic.

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