ESIE · Egalitarian and socially inclusive Europe

Final Activity Report Summary - ESIE (Egalitarian and Socially Inclusive Europe)

The aim of the ESIE project was to develop the intellectual infrastructure of the UCD Egalitarian World Initiative (EWI) in the area of egalitarian theory, practice, equality-sensitive research methodologies and policy practices in order to make UCD a powerhouse of expertise in the area of equality and social justice research and teaching, both nationally and internationally. One of the most significant scientific achievements since the commencement of ESIE has been the consolidation of the School of Social Justice, and the university-wide EWI Network, as major sites nationally and internationally for the promotion of research on equality. ESIE directly facilitated the development and resourcing of the activities of the EWI by enhancing the intellectual capacities of UCD staff through the transfer of knowledge activities of both the outgoing and incoming fellows. We are now the only major full School of Social Justice in Europe, and in line with the ESIE objectives, this has placed UCD in a pivotal position to promote emancipatory, feminist and equality-related research across the Member States and Internationally. We now have partnerships and engagements on equality and feminist-related research networks in the majority of Member States. This was achieved using a twofold Transfer-of-Knowledge (ToK) methodology, involving an ambitions and highly successful work programme by 16 incoming fellows and 11 outgoing fellows. The 16 'More Experienced' incoming fellows came from 7 countries across two continents (5 from USA, 5 from UK, 2 from Romania, 1 from Poland, 1 from Denmark, 1 from Malta and 1 from Canada). Eleven UCD outgoing fellows (9 'More Experienced' and 2 'Experienced) went to 8 different Centres of Excellence (Cambridge University (Faculty of Education); Oxford University (Centre for the Study of Social Justice (CSSJ); University of Kent (AHRC Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality); University of Warwick (Department of Sociology); University of Brighton (School of Historical and Critical Studies (SHACS); University of Leeds (Centre for Disability Studies), University of Pisa (Department of Agronomy and Agri-Environmental Management); Norwegian University for Science and Technology (Norwegian Centre for Child Research, Trondheim) located in 3 different European countries (8 to UK, 1 to Norway and 2 to Italy). The incoming 'More Experienced' academics included leading international scholars in their respective fields. Among the 16 incoming fellows in the area of equality-sensitive theory were such internationally recognised feminist law and society scholars as Prof. Martha Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor from the US Emory University School of Law and Prof. Kris Miccio, an international expert in the area of male intimate violence, the state and conceptions of state accountability, from the US Sturn College of Law, University of Denver. Equally, in terms of expertise on participatory, emancipatory, feminist and transformative theories (PEFT), the project benefited enormously from the work programmes provided by such leading scholars as Prof. Eileen Kane, an internationally recognised World-Bank anthropologist with extensive expertise using PEFT methodologies in the context of development education and Prof. Wendy Luttrell, Nancy Pforzheimer Aronson Chair in Human Development and Education at the US Harvard Graduate School of Education (currently Professor in Urban Education and Social-Personality Psychology at the Graduate Centre, City University of New York (CUNY)) who has extended the tradition of ethnography using image-based, arts-informed research activities. The transfer-of-knowledge activities undertaken by the 11 outgoing fellows has had a complementary and major impact on the success of ESIE. This can be seen in the range of new and substantially revised courses on offer across the university, as well as the research and publication outputs directly arising from the project. In line with an objective of the EWI, supported by ESIE, we can also demonstrate more ethically oriented perspectives within core disciplines. This has been achieved by major curriculum and programme developments in teaching in the University, one of the most significant of which has been a completely revised Commerce degree in the UCD Quinn Business and School from September 2011. The ESIE research clusters have also facilitated research and innovation in teaching through the UCD Horizons programme; there is now a suite of courses offered across the university which is focused on equality and global justice issues across its five colleges. The development of these courses has been directly resourced by the transfer-of-knowledge from ESIE. In the development of PEFT methodologies in particular the ESIE project enabled us to build our university-civil society linkages with vulnerable groups by providing capacity building seminars and programmes for community groups.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union