Inclusion, Exclusion, Inequalities, Integration, Social boundaries, Citizenship, Discrimination, Racialization, Representation, Diversity management, Precariousness, Structural racism, Intersectionality, Immigration, Roma, Political theory, Political sociology, Sociological theory, Qualitative research methods, Participatory Action Research (PAR), Social transformation.

 

 

Research projects

 

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS:

 

Funded by Horizon Europe. Coordinated by University of Bordeaux, PI: Fabien Sabatier. 2023-2027.

Role: Co-PI, coordinator of the Spanish team.

Project description:

UNDETERRED applies a mixed methods approach to develop an empirically grounded conceptual model of systemic discrimination, intended to guide both research and policymaking. The main objective of the project is to strengthen the fight against racial, ethnic and religious inequalities experienced by the younger generation (18-35 years old) of migrant and national minority populations in Europe (Roma minorities). Its focus is to improve knowledge about the norms, procedures and practices that produce racial, ethnic and religious inequality in the EU without 'institutional intentions'.  The formalisation of a descriptive and functional typology of these unintentional mechanisms will serve to produce new anti-discrimination designs. These will be tested in the housing, employment, health and higher education sectors with regard to their access for young immigrant and national minorities.

Project documentary: Voces gitanas

 

Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, National Program for Research Aimed at the Challenges of Society (Retos). 2021-2025.

Role: Senior Researcher

Project description:

One of the current challenges faced by European societies is understanding and managing increased cultural diversity and complex intercultural dynamics. Within this area of research, intermarriage and mixed families constitute one of the most important indicators for revealing societal structure and intergroup relations. In Spain, quite a lot of information is now available on mixed couples and mixed descendants for unions occurring between the majority native population and the immigrant population. However, there is currently no research on interethnic unions specifically involving national ethnic minorities, particularly in the case of the Roma, or Romani, population, the most numerous ethnic minority in Spain and Europe. The Roma population has been completely overlooked in all the studies on interculturalism, which contributes to this group’s invisibility within discussions on diversity. This project seeks to fill this serious information gap—through groundbreaking research that will be carried out by an experienced, interdisciplinary research team. 

Principal Investigator: Dan Rodríguez-García, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

 

Funded by the Research Council of Norway. 

Role: Senior Researcher

Project description: 

The overall aim of InterAct project is to strengthen and promote the work of public services while fostering intersectoral collaboration to support low-literate adult refugees, thereby improving integration outcomes, in the interest of an inclusive and democratic society.

Principal investigator: Turid Fånes Sætermo, NTNU Social Research/Norway.

 

CONCLUDED RESEARCH PROJECTS:

 

Co-funded by the European Union's CERV programme (Citizens, Equality, Rights, Values) under Grant Agreement number PREUR02922 EC - CERV - REACT - 101084345. December 2022-December 2024.

Role: Principal Investigator

Project description:

The REACT project applied a comprehensive methodological design combining research and action tasks to study and address racism in schools with the overall objective of promoting the mainstreaming of anti-racism in education. While the project was developed in Catalonia, Spain, it intends to be internationally transferable.

Here are the main conclusions from the REACT project:

  • That there is a general lack of consensus around what racism is, and if/how it needs to be addressed, within the education system as an institution as well as in individual schools, leading to insecurity for racialized students and an arbitrary handling of racist incidents (especially when these are more “invisible”). 
  • That the students who participate in the project, of different ethnicities and racialized both as white and non-white, widely share the view that their teachers are unwilling to intervene against racist insults and other common racist practices in the schools, and that they wish for more intervention and more active work against racism.
  • That this topic is often considered uncomfortable and sensitive by educational staff, who clearly needs explicit training in anti-racism and de-colonial perspectives (part of the REACT project was to offer such training, which was implemented during October-November 2024).

 

Funded by the Migration Studies Delegation (DELMI), an independent research committee of the Swedish Government.  

Role: Principal Investigator.

Project description:

The term “shadow society” has gained momentum in Sweden in recent years. It is often used to describe the growing group of foreign nationals who live outside of the Swedish system, without residence permits, and are often exploited on the labour market. The “shadow society” is a highly charged topic that is widely discussed in politics and in the media, but, at the same time, is underdeveloped as an area of research. Based on existing research, what can we really say about Sweden’s “shadow society”? In order to answer this question, this research overview will map out how existing research describes the extent and composition of Sweden’s “shadow society”, but also analyse the different discourses about the “shadow society” and what implications these discourses have for policy proposals.

 

Co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement number 881875. 2020-2022.

Role: Principal Investigator

Project description:

The AGREP project, which partly builds on findings from the Vakeripen project, aims to strengthen the fight against antigypsyism and the multiple forms of discrimination against Roma people in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, which collide with the explicit intercultural policy focus of the local and regional political administrations. Discrimination of the Roma communities is widespread in Barcelona as elsewhere in Spain, though seriously underreported, and current policies and measures are clearly insufficient to effectively combat discriminatory practices that hamper the opportunities of Roma people to, for instance, access employment or housing, fulfil educational projects, or even avoid being harassed and insulted in public spaces. The project team consists of a collaborative network composed by GRITIM-UPF, the Catalan Federation of Roma Associations FAGIC, and the Barcelona City Council’s Office for Non-discrimination (OND). The project aims to on the one hand map and document the extent and character of discrimination against the Roma people in a wide range of situations, and on the other hand establish structures to efficiently prevent, report and combat discrimination through training and tools. The AGREP project was implemented in 10 neighbourhoods of Barcelona with high proportions of Roma population, through developing a structure where local Roma activists will be trained in anti-discrimination and provided with a software tool (an easy-to-use app) to effectively report discrimination to the Office for Non-discrimination. In addition, training will also be provided to key actors within Catalan institutions such as the education system, the social services and the police force, who should function as “anti-discrimination agents” in order to create awareness and prevent discrimination within these institutions.

 

Funded by the EU's HERA programme. 2019-2022.

Role: Senior Researcher

Project description:

PLURISPACE aimed to provide new insights into the relationship between citizens’ engagement and multilevel European public spaces. In Europe, an important issue pertains to the settlement of post-immigrant ethno-religious groups, along with the expression and organization of collective identities; claims for participation/representation and recognition; the role of religion in public space; and the increasing influence of diaspora and transnational politics. PLURISPACE’s point of departure is that these questions cannot be properly addressed without at the same time taking into account the multilevel character of the European public space they unfold within, the multiple characters of the groups (some identified by national origins, others by religion etc.) and the multiple modes of integration. Within such a complex European space, we identify four policy and theoretical approaches to diversity management and understanding of public space: multiculturalism, interculturalism, transnationalism and cosmopolitanism. The project uses the four theoretical perspectives to understand how the multilevel European public space manages diversity. PLURISPACE’s main aim is to contribute to the theory and practice of integration and diversity management in Europe. Empirically evaluating post-immigrant ethno-religious minorities’ perceptions and adoptions of these different normative approaches will allow us to clarify the nature and relations among multiple conceptions of integration in the European public space that both overlap and diverge. PLURISPACE’s focus on European public space encompasses the EU, affiliated non-members (Norway), a new category of ex-EU-member (UK), and the transnational dimension.

Principal investigators: Riva Kastoryano, John Erik Fossum, Tariq Modood, Ricard Zapata-Barrero.

 

  • REPCAT: The Role of the Ethnic Majority in Integration Processes: Attitudes and Practices towards Immigrants in Catalan Institutions.

Funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship under Grant Agreement: 747075 — REPCAT — H2020-MSCA-IF-2016/H2020-MSCA-IF-2016. 2018-2020. 

Role: Principal Investigator

Project description:

The research project REPCAT (September 2018-September 2020) examined diversity management in Catalan public institutions, suggesting that an increased representation of immigrants and members of ethnic minority groups is necessary in order to fulfil intercultural policy aims, and, at a broader level, that the representation of ethnic diversity in public institutions is a democratic necessity in the superdiverse European societies of today. The project was designed as a multiple case study combining several methods in order to enquire into if/how diversity is represented and what barriers there are for the participation of immigrants and minorities in three Catalan public institutions: the education system, the police force (Mossos d'Esquadra), and the political administration of the Barcelona City Council. It was based upon the assumption that underrepresentation of ethnic diversity hampers integration processes and cements inequalities, as minority groups lack both voice and visibility in society. The project outcomes include a series of policy recommendations intended to increase the actual participation and representation of immigrants and minorities in public institutions.  

The project was selected by the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) as an example of Catalan research that supports sustainable development by promoting the equality of opportunities. Click here. 

 

Co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union, GA: JUST/2015/RDIS/AG/DISC/9372), 2017-2018.

Role: Principal Investigator

 

Financed by the European Commission, H2020 Marie Curie Actions RISE. 2016-2017. PI: Shahamak Rezai.

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher

 

Funded by a postdoctoral grant from the research foundation ahlstromska.se/Stockholm University. 2014-2015.

Role: Principal Investigator

 

Funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme.  2013-2015. PI: Livia Olah.

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher in WP9.8: Migration and Care 

 

Funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond/The Swedish National Bank. 2013-2016.

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher and Consultant

 

Funded by the European Union's Fifth Framework Programme. 2003-2006. 

Role: Postdoctoral Researcher in  WP3 on anti-discrimination organizations in Sweden