Edinburgh Napier University

  Funding: European Commission
Duration: June 2011 - July 2014
Participating Countries: UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Sweden
Research Team (Edinburgh Napier University): Prof. Ron McQuaid, Vanesa Fuertes, Dr. Matthew Dutton, Prof. Robert Raeside. Research Assistants (Edinburgh Napier University): Alec Richard, Dr Eva Pocher, Dr Billie Lister, Dr Tao Chen


DescriptionThe EU has awarded funding for a €1.78 million EU 7th Framework project to a consortium including the Employment Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University.
Radical changes in the local governance of social cohesion in many Member States of the European Union are the focus of LOCALISE's research on the organisational challenges of an integrated social and employment policy. How do different institutional contexts influence local worlds of social cohesion? How do local actors deal with the conflicts and dilemmas caused by integrated social cohesion policies? What impact do these policies have on social inequality and the concep¬tion of social citizenship?
LOCALISE addresses these questions by integrating multiple disciplines, and partners experienced in European and Social Policy research.
Edinburgh Napier's share is over €254,000 (near a quarter of a million pounds).
The project considers the organisational challenges of integrating social and employment policy. The project intends to target multiple needs of the most vulnerable groups in society, which require the integration of formerly separate policy fields, such as employment with childcare, health and welfare support. These can create positive effects for reducing social inequalities, fostering social cohesion and enhancing labour market participation - the crucial objectives of the new European Union's EU2020 strategy.

Participating PartnersThe Employment Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) is one amongst six partners taking part in this research project:
•CETRO, Oldenburg
•ENU, Edinburgh
•PAM, University of Milan - Bocconi
•ISUW, Warsaw
•SCORE, Stockholm
•CED, Bordeaux

Localise Website
As part of the research project LOCALISE, a website has been created where progress, related events, etc, will be reported: www.localise-research.eu

Funding
The project will be co-financed in 2011-2014 by the seventh framework programme of the EU under grant agreement No. 26768 (Project LOCALISE).



Project Reports Work Package 4 national report: Fuertes, V., and McQuaid, R. (2013). The Local Governance of Social Cohesion in Europe - UK Country Analysis. LOCALISE 7FP EU project Work Package 4 national report for the European Commission. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Napier University.
Work Package 4 comparative report: Fuertes, V., and McQuaid, R. (2013). The Local Governance of Social Cohesion in Europe: International Comparison. LOCALISE 7FP EU project Work Package 4 comparative report for the European Commission. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Napier University.

Fuertes, V., and McQuaid, R. (2014). The Local Governance of Social Cohesion in Europe: The Individualisation of Interventions - UK Country Analysis. LOCALISE 7FP EU project Work Package 6 report for the European Commission. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Napier University.
Fuertes, V., and McQuaid, R. (2014). The Local Governance of Social Cohesion in Europe: The Impact of an Integrated Approach to Social Cohesion - UK Country Analysis. LOCALISE 7FP EU project Work Package 7 report for the European Commission. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Napier University.


Project Related EventsProgramme: LOCALISE Closing dissemination event - Friday 23rd May 2014 – 12 until 3pm - Edinburgh
Presentation slides: Dr Hayley Bennet 'The local arena for combating poverty'; Dr Sharon Wright 'Conditional welfare reform: context, agency and responsibility'; Vanesa Fuertes and Professor Ron McQuaid 'Findings from LOCALISE'


Early-Stage Researchers Conference. Delivering integrated employment policies: cross-sectorial policies in practice. 12-13 May 2014, Bordeaux

Brief report and poster
 
CETRO PhD Summer School on the governance of activation and employment policies