Bosch Foundation funds 50,000 euros for evaluation European Citizenship projects with the Department of Social Sciences

• Thursday, May 9, 2019

Professor Bryony Hoskins and Dr Steven Donbavand from the Department of Social Sciences are conducting an evaluation on the effectiveness of five educational pilot projects funded by the Bosch Foundation.

The projects are running in eight different countries in Europe with young people ages 16-24 and will support them in engaging in developing citizenship skills. The projects, which includes working with social media content providers and real-life simulation games on issues connected with Europe and the European elections, with the aim to connect in new ways with young people about what it means to be a European citizen. This one year research project will evaluate the different educational programmes and help to assess the learning that has been gained from each project and which ones are the most effective with young people.

Professor Bryony Hoskins said “It is really important to connect Europe to young people’s everyday lives regardless of their background and for them to see how they can participate in shaping the future of Europe. This research will help us identify those projects which actually achieve this for young people.”

The funding for the University’s research is 50,000 euros and the ultimate strategic goal of the projects is to bring about positive changes in society and strengthen European principles of democracy, human rights and respect for diversity through Active Citizenship.

The Department of Social Sciences is ranked 6th in the UK for the impact of our Social Sciences research (Research Excellence Framework 2014). The Crucible Centre of Human Rights at the University of Roehampton has a long standing commitment to social justice and human rights, and the support of positive citizenship, particularly through education contributes towards this.