Closing gaps in social citizenship. New tools to foster social resilience in Europe (EUROSHIP)

EUROSHIP will provide new, gender-sensitive, comparative knowledge about the effectiveness of changing social protection policies targeted at reducing poverty and social exclusion in Europe. Focal points will be the roles of social protection systems (including minimum income schemes), digitalisation of work and social protection delivery, and the social and political opportunities for active agency by three groups of citizens: youth at risk, precarious workers with care obligations and elderly and disabled people with long-term care needs. Through the involvement of national and European stakeholders, EUROSHIP aims to develop proposals for effective policies and inform relevant policymakers with a view to maximise the project’s impact from a societal as well as scientific perspective. EUROSHIP will combine diverse methods, data and disciplines (covering economics, political science, social policy and sociology) in innovative ways: (1) coordinated lifecourse interviews with low-skilled and low-income women and men; (2) focus forums with national stakeholders; (3) policy analyses based on document review and semi-structured expert interviews; (4) quantitative analyses of comparative micro-data. Linking the analyses of these data and four key concepts (social citizenship, social resilience, capability and active agency) will give original insights on how social rights mitigate risks across the lifecourse and affect the scope for exercising social citizenship by vulnerable persons within a multi-level governance system. This will add to the knowledge base for further implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, Agenda 2030/SDGs, and through this, upward social convergence between Member States. A trans-disciplinary consortium of nine research institutions from eight countries (DE, EE, ES, HU, IT, NO, CH, and the UK) and one European CSO will implement EUROSHIP. The Consortium has a balanced composition of women and men, senior and junior researchers.