Dr. Besarta Vladi participates in COST Action 16121

Cost Action CA16121
Title: “From Sharing to Caring: Examining Socio-Technical Aspects of the Collaborative Economy”
Chair: Dr Gabriela AVRAM, University of Limerick, Ireland

The terms “Sharing Economy” or “Collaborative Economy” have been commonly used in recent years to refer to a proliferation of initiatives, business models and forms of work. The main objective of this action is to develop a European network of actors (including scholars, practitioners, communities and policy makers) focusing on the development of collaborative economy models and platforms and on social and technological implications of the collaborative economy through a practice-focused approach.

The specific aims of the proposal are:
(i) To develop a deeper understanding of the collaborative economy phenomenon in all its aspects;
(ii) To discuss and critique elements of the current discourse on the collaborative economy; 
(iii) To formulate a European research agenda for the socio-technical aspects of the collaborative economy;
(iv) To articulate a European research perspective on the collaborative economy, based on EU values of social innovation. The Action will produce online resources including publications offering a comprehensive view of the current European collaborative economy and socio-technical and policy recommendations for the future.

Contact: [email protected]

For COST Action CA16121 visit: http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/ca/CA16121

Dr Blerjana Bino participates in COST Action IS1308

ISCH COST Action IS1308
Title: “Populist Political Communication in Europe: Comprehending the Challenge of Mediated Political Populism for Democratic Politics”
Chair of the Action: Prof Toril AALBERG, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

This Action brings together researchers to investigate populist political communication and its impact on democratic political life across Europe. This is necessary not only in light of recent populist backlashes in many democracies against governments and political and economic developments, but also in respect to changes in national media and communication systems. In order to comprehend this poorly understood aspect of contemporary political communication this Action will examine three interconnected but distinct aspects of populist political communication: First, populist political communicators and their strategies. Second, the media and populist discourses and frames. Third, citizen’s engagement with populist political messages and the effect of these messages.

This Action will provide a thorough critical review of existing knowledge, much improved research co-ordination, widen co-operation between scholars, bridge gaps in existing knowledge and strengthen dialogue with various societal stakeholders, benefiting media organizations, NGOs and policy actors as well as the wider scientific community.

Contact: [email protected]

For COST Action IS1308 visit:  https://www.ntnu.edu/populistcommunication/populist-political-communication-in-europe

Dr Blerjana Bino participates in COST Action CA15207

Title: “Professionalization and Social Impact of European Political Science”
Action Chair: Prof. Giliberto Capano, University of Bologna

ProSEPS – The main aim and objective of PROSEPS is to develop an innovative assessment of the state and the perspectives of Political Science in Europe. At first, the Action will focus on developing a common framework for the understanding of the professionalization of Political Science, discussing and promoting a set of measurements regarding the academic centrality and the effectiveness of the work of political scientists. Moreover, a comparative framework for assessing the social impact of “knowledge” of Political Science will be assessed and tested, in order to understand whether, and in what way, Political Science is employed at national level, and thus to understand the opportunities that political scientists currently seem to have to improve the impact of their work, and to contribute to the real process of policy making.

The Action is intended to serve as a vehicle for the development of an in-depth, innovative assessment of the state of European Political Science, from both a professional and an applied perspective. Accordingly, the following goals ought to be pursued:
a) a reflection on the recent evolution (at least the past 20 years) of the academic subject of Political Science;
b) a broad report on two specific aspects of the professionalization of the subject: the notion of mobility within and across national borders and that of internationalization.
c) a broad analysis of the social impact of Political Science within policy-making processes at both national and supranational levels.

Contact: [email protected]

For COST Action CA15207 visit: http://proseps.sns.it/

Prof. Asoc. Dr. Erika Melonashi participates in COST Action 15221

CA COST Action CA15221
Chair of the Action: Dr. Alison FARRELL, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland
Title: “Advancing effective institutional models towards cohesive teaching, learning, research and writing development”

This Action addresses the challenge of creating synergy among the increasingly more specialised and centralised supports for four key higher education activities – research, writing, teaching and learning – which frequently fail to capitalise on their shared territories and common ground. In many institutions, central support for these four areas continues to grow, repeatedly in a reactive rather than strategic manner, in the form of sometimes overlapping programmes or activities, centres, institutes and other units.

This Action addresses the dearth of professional conversations and research around the shared territory of support for, and development of, these four areas. Such dialogue and research, across units and institutions, will illuminate intersections and contribute to institutional transformation based on complementary, coherent and integrated provision.

This Action will address the identified challenge by:
-classifying, as ‘frontier taxonomies’, the common ground in terms of shared purposes, processes, knowledge, values and skills among centralized institutional supports for research, writing, teaching and learning in order to capitalise on their synergies;
-offering the most advantageous models and practices for supporting these four areas that are mindful of the availability of new technologies and assessments and that prompt a reworking of current institutional supports which will be valuable and far-reaching.

Contact: [email protected]

For COST Action 15221: http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/ca/CA15221

Prof. Asoc. Dr. Erika Melonashi participates in COST Action CA16207
CA COST Action CA16207

Chair of the action: Dr. Naomi Fineberg, University of Hertfordshire, UK

Title: “European Network for Problematic Usage of the Internet (PUI)”

The aim of this Cost Action is to bring together a multidisciplinary and geographically diverse group of experts and opinion leaders under one European-led Network, to leverage the existing funded research into a more coherent programme to advance the understanding of PUI from a bio-psycho-social perspective, clarify the brain-based undergirdings and develop effective interventions. The Action will deliver a platform to advance brain-based research into PUI and drive forward the development of clinical tools and treatment-targets, therapeutic interventions, biomarkers to enable early detection of PUI in at-risk subjects before symptoms, early intervention strategies to prevent progression, chronicity and the development of costly co-morbidities such as anxiety and depression.

Contact: [email protected] 

For COST Action CA16207 visit: http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/ca/CA16207

Ketrina Çabiri Mijo participates in COST Action 15137

COST Action CA 15137
Chair of the Action: Ioana Galleron,University Grenoble Alpes, France
Title: “European Network for Research Evaluation in the Social Sciences and the Humanities”

“European Network for Research Evaluation in the Social Sciences and the Humanities” is a COST Action, starting in April 2016 and ending in April 2020. Proposed by a group of some 20 researchers from 16 countries, it currently brings together more than 125 participants from 36 countries.
ENRESSH aims to propose clear best practices in the field of SSH research evaluation. The Action brings together numerous experts, such as researchers in evaluation studies, policy makers and members of evaluation units, as well as researchers from SSH disciplines. Its approach is based on the comparison and the cross fertilisation of strands of work dedicated to SSH research evaluation, currently under development in different parts of Europe, seeking to avoid unnecessary duplication and to upscale results.

The challenge of the action is to enable the Social Sciences and Humanities to better demonstrate their true place in academia and the society. To do so, the Action proposes to bring together different strands of works consecrated to SSH research evaluation, currently under development in different parts of Europe, in order to gain momentum, to exchange best practices and results, and to avoid unnecessary duplication. Its main aims, deeply interrelated are:
– to improve evaluation procedures in order to take into account the diversity and research;
– to make a robust case for the ways in which the SSH add value to the society;
– to help SSH scholars better their research agenda and overcome fragmentation.

Contact: [email protected] 

For COST Action 15137 visit: http://enressh.eu/

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Giakoumis and Dr. Irena Myzeqari participate in COST Action CA16213

COST Action CA16213
Title: “New Exploratory Phase in Research on East European Cultures of Dissent”
Action Chair Dr Maciej Maryl, Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Resistance and dissent in former socialist Europe 1945-1989 constitutes a remarkable chapter of Europe’s recent past, which not only informs in a decisive way the identities of post-socialist societies, but has also reshaped the continent as a whole and still provides an important reference for contemporary social movements worldwide.
The proposers of this Action believe that, after a period of growth and consolidation, this field of study and the respective domain of cultural heritage have stalled and fell short of its true significance.
The main aim of the Action is to trigger the next discovery phase of this legacy through forging a new, reflexive approach and providing a platform for incubating networked, transnational, multidisciplinary and technology-conscious research with creative dissemination capacities.

The Action will create a valuable interface for communication between three communities of practice: researchers and archivists, art and cultural heritage curators and IT experts with humanities and social sciences expertise in order for future research to be technologically advanced and better disseminated.

Contact: [email protected] 

For COST Action CA16213 visit: http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/ca/CA16213