Social innovation for social inclusion: participatory practices
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MSCA-2020-LDDonder01
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Beschrijving van het project
Abstract: Research within the Department of Educational Sciences comprises three focal research areas: ‘Innovative change in educational contexts’, ‘Community development’ and ‘Cultural education’. These focal areas are set up from a horizontal cross-link with an overarching focus on social change and social inclusion. They are underpinned by a number of common values and visions, such as a humanist-critical approach, a pursuit of social participation and connectedness, citizenship and a consistent fight against disadvantage. Specific attention is devoted to the analysis of levers for (social) change situated on micro, meso and macro level in order to adjust (learning and living) environments, contexts and situations to the needs of specific groups (such as young people, older adults, financially vulnerable people, digitally illiterate people, prisoners, etc.).
A MSCA-researcher can focus on (the impact of) social innovation and participatory approaches:
1). Explicit attention will be devoted to social innovation prompted by grassroot initiatives or citizen initiatives and community innovation. How do public authorities, civil society organisations, private corporations or individuals respond to new social risks and propose possible answers to major societal challenges (e.g., sustainability, new digital divide, healthcare system challenges, city housing, refugees). How can we develop new and more effective approaches, with shrinking budgets? The goal is often: to do better and more with less. However, the question often remains: what is better and more? What is the impact of social innovation in social/cultural/societal projects? And how can you measure, validate, visualise that impact?
2). In the last decade, concepts such as co-creation, co-production, community-based participatory research, social design, citizen science have gained popularity in the field of social sciences. Within different disciplines, both researchers and practitioners as well as policymakers aim to implement these participatory practices. A MSCA-researcher can work on tackling two main pitfalls: 1) How can we include not only the voices from established groups whose members are practiced in offering their opinions, but also the voices of those who repeatedly find themselves at the margins of society? And, 2) how can you prevent tokenist participation and guarantee that users genuinely participate in all stages of development and not merely as consultants or controllers? The candidate might suggest a specific own topic, or together a proposal can be developed.
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Belgian Ageing Studies
The Belgian Ageing Studies project (BAS) was developed by researchers at the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and University College Ghent (Hogeschool Gent). Established in the early 2000s, the BAS team engages in the scientific study of the social aspects of ageing. The team’s research focuses on a range of social gerontological issues, including social, cultural and political participation in old age, volunteering, inclusion and exclusion, age-friendly environments, feelings of safety and the social policy of later life.
The BAS refers to a project which seeks to monitor local challenges and opportunities, as well as issues of quality of life, among home-dwelling older people in order to provide tools for evidenced-based ageing policies at local level. The project is a result of a close collaboration between the research team, the regional government and councils of all participating municipalities, senior advisory boards, and other stakeholders. Through a participatory method, the older people themselves are actively involved as actors in all stages of each study. They play a crucial role in the planning, the design, and the realisation of the research project, as well as in the development of local policy plans on the basis of the findings of the research.
Since 2002, the Belgian Ageing Studies have conducted a number of such studies in various municipalities in Belgium.