Cycle 40 (2024/2025)
40th Cycle: Mehmet Caglar Akyigit, Joyce Nyangweso Momanyi, Everlyn Enyaboke Nyabuto, Barbara Rinaldi, Sofia Riva, Anna Romanovych, Clelia Vettori, Marta Vischi, Chenda Wu (吴辰达).
Mehmet Caglar Akyigit
Global Youth Visions: Curriculum, Consciousness, and Climate Action
Curriculum: Inclusion and Psychological Growth
Supervisor: Laura Nota
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7514-1395
Funded by: Università degli Studi di Padova
Research question: How can educational curricula from different countries, address the climate crisis and social justice? How do curricular approaches and cultural contexts influence students' knowledge, attitudes, and psychosocial resilience regarding climate change and social justice?
Summary
The research project focuses on understanding how education can empower young people to face global challenges like climate crises and social justice issues. As the world tackles many problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and mental health impacts from environmental crises, education is a critical tool to build resilience and inspire action. The research will explore how schools in Turkey, Italy, and Finland incorporate these topics into their curricula, comparing their approaches and identifying what works best. The research will be conducted in three phases. First, it will analyse curriculum documents from the three countries to understand how they address climate change and social justice. This analysis will uncover themes and teaching methods that promote awareness and action. Next, the research will assess the impact of these curricula on students. Surveys and focus groups will help gauge students' knowledge, attitudes, and emotional readiness to deal with these issues, focusing on the role of education in shaping resilience. Finally, the findings will inform the development of a training program. This program will equip young people with skills to create and promote social justice and sustainability initiatives in their home countries. The research is guided by theories that emphasise the importance of learning through observation, community interaction, and social settings. By bridging education, psychology, and environmental studies, this project aims to provide practical recommendations for improving curricula worldwide. Its ultimate goal is to foster a generation of proactive and resilient global citizens ready to tackle climate and social challenges. The findings will be shared widely to inspire changes in educational practices and policies, supporting a sustainable future for all.
Keywords: Social justice, Education, Climate crisis, Psychological resilience, Youth empowerment.
Barbara Rinaldi
Future thinking on Social and Environmental Justice
Curriculum: Inclusion and psychological growth
Supervisor: Maria Cristina Ginevra
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2724-7149
Funded by:
Summary
The research project focuses on developing a framework for fostering future thinking on social and environmental justice in youths (ages 14-18), a critical issue given the challenges of climate change, social inequalities, and environmental degradation (Ellis, 2024). As part of the “Anthropocene Age”, youths are increasingly burdened by social and climate-related anxieties, such as depression, and eco-anxiety, which negatively impact their mental well-being and limit their environmental engagement (King et al., 2022; Brophy et al., 2023). This project aims to equip young people with the skills and mindset needed to navigate these challenges, focusing on social and environmental justice within the context of Vocational Guidance 5.0, which emphasizes the development of 21st-century skills like future thinking, critical thinking, adaptability, and problem-solving (Varas et al., 2023).
The first two steps of the project involve developing and validating a new instrument to measure youths’ future thinking on social and environmental justice in the Italian context. This tool will assess how adolescents envision the future, their concerns about environmental issues, and their potential for taking action in a socially just manner.
In the third phase, a career education intervention will be designed and tested to help youths develop their future thinking about social and environmental justice. This intervention will include workshops, simulations, and group projects to engage youths in problem-solving and decision-making around climate change and social equity. The program will also integrate Vocational Guidance to link youths' values with career paths in sustainable industries and social justice fields.
By fostering future-oriented thinking on environmental and social issues, this project aims to prepare youths to act responsibly and creatively in addressing the world's pressing challenges (Mason, 2019).
Keywords: Future thinking, social and environmental justice, Anthropocene age, vocational guidance, sustainability, career education.
Sofia Riva
Digital Memory and Diasporic Communities: a Human Rights Perspective on Data Vulnerability
Curriculum: Human Rights, Society and Multilevel Governance
Supervisor: Costanza Margiotta Broglio Massucci
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7353-5778
Funded by: Università degli Studi di Padova
Research question: Do evolving legal standards at the international and regional level offer adequate protection for such processes of memory and identity formation for migrant groups? Is it possible to conceptualise a right to data protection not through the right to privacy, but through the proactive lens of the human right to culture and to identity?
Summary
This project seeks to study data vulnerability through the dual lenses of the right to identity and the right to culture as enshrined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and explicated more broadly in the Fribourg Declaration on Cultural Rights. Broadly situating itself in the field of philosophy of law, the focus of analysis is how the right to memory can be construed in the digital realm, and the ways in which this right can be applied to, claimed and advocated for by vulnerable groups, specifically migrant and diasporic communities. Using approaches drawn from memory studies and digital migration, this research focuses on identity and cultural referents embodied in personal digital data—collections/archives of family photographs, as a prime example—to show how diasporic identity is mediated through family photographs and other personal data, making them potent examples of the interconnectedness of individual and collective memory. I propose an investigation of how diasporic identity formation can be protected from vulnerability in interaction with privatised interests by engaging with how private actors (corporate actors) help structure and control such identity mediation on digital platforms, with a focus on cases of account deletion and data loss. The main goal of this research would be to provide recommendations for the development of a legal framework, which takes into account the vulnerability of diasporic or migrant groups, who could be most affected by such data loss.
Keywords: Vulnerability, Digital Memory, Identity Rights, Diaspora, Platform Companies, Governance Language, Cultural Rights.
Anna Romanovych
Eco-Justice in Action: A study of the multilevel governance framework for addressing ecocide and climate change in conflict-affected regions based on the case study of Ukraine
Curriculum: Human Rights, Society and Multilevel Governance
Supervisor: Alberto Lanzavecchia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2353-8166
Funded by: Università degli Studi di Padova
Research question: How can we approach the subject of ecocide during the war or other military conflict, form just reparations for the environmental damages caused and build a working framework for environmental protection and ecosystems recovery for the effective multilevel governance? Based on the case study of Ukraine.
Summary
1. Environmental and climate change component of research (Eco Justice):
Providing an overview of the environmental damages caused to the nature of Ukraine by the russian full-scale invasion in 2022. Defining the notion of the ecocide in the frames of the case study, research on the general working framework on the ecocide. Assessment of the methodologies available for the calculation of the reparations for environmental damages during the wars/military conflicts with a focus on defining the just economic value of nature's destruction, from the lenses of climate change impacts and local communities’ perspectives on the matter.
2. Strengthening the local communities’ resilience component of research:
Research on the methodologies and practices available to the local communities on the affected territories for the ecosystem restoration, preservation and sustainable territorial governance. Suggesting local projects that could be organised to contribute to the environmental recovery of the territories affected
3. Multilevel governance component of the research:
Search for the appropriate techniques and practices of the effective multilevel governance of the territories affected by the environmental destruction. Review of successful policies and sustainable development strategies adapted across the world for the environmental protection and recovery from the environmental destruction and degradation.
Expected quantitative and qualitative results:
Forming the indicators and methods of accounting for the environmental damages from the economic perspective - formation of tools to be used while building the reparations strategy.
Identification of the applicable environmental recovery framework: on the policy level - working mechanisms between various levels of the governance; on the local level - projects and techniques that could support environmental recovery; on the financial aspect - suggesting mechanisms to provide for the territorial recovery projects.
Identification of the policies, strategic decisions, principles of the sustainable territorial development that could support overall environmental protection during the wars and military conflicts.
Keywords: Eco Justice, Environmental Restoration, Ecocide, Local Communities Resilience Building.
The Role of Media in Shaping Narratives about the Israel-Hamas War and its Consequences on Human Rights Protection and Advocacy Efforts
Curriculum: Human Rights, Society and Multilevel Governance
Supervisor(s): Pietro de Perini
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3490-6284
Funded by: Università degli Studi di Padova
Research question: Is the coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in US mainstream media contributing to the construction of narratives that aim to justify and legitimise the United States’ continued support to Israel? If so, what are the consequences on the legitimacy and functioning of international human rights protection systems?
Summary
Over the past year, the international community has made numerous attempts to halt hostilities between Israel and Hamas or, at the very least, ensure that Palestinians in Gaza could have access to essential food, water, medicine, fuel, and shelter: however, not even provisions taken by authoritative bodies such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN Security Council or the International Criminal Court (ICC) have achieved the objective. Frustrations over immobility on the international arena and concern for the Israeli government’s policies on Gaza have led university students across the world to set up encampments and organise protest movements in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The overwhelming sentiment at the base of these movements is that it is no longer possible to ignore the suffering of an entire population and be complicit in the perceived double standard that Western governments and media apply when addressing the issue.
Therefore, the focus of this research project is to analyse the role of a specific actor, i.e. the media, in shaping perceptions and narratives about the Israel-Hamas war and its consequences on human rights protection and advocacy efforts. This will be done in two steps: the first step will be to analyse the US media reporting on the war, with a focus on the frames adopted in such reporting. The expectation is that mainstream media will adopt frames that justify and legitimize the US government’s support for Israel’s actions during the war, thus fostering the public’s approval as well. The second part will focus on researching how and to what extent the United States’ position and actions on the international arena influence the functioning and, consequently, legitimacy of international law more broadly and international human rights protection bodies more specifically.
Keywords: Mainstream Media, Propaganda, US, Israel, Hamas, Human Rights.
Marta Vischi
Community During The Energy Transition Era: Between Cohesion and Division
Curriculum: Inclusion and psychological growth
Supervisor: Gian Piero Turchi
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4547-1423
Funded by: PNRR DM 630/2024
Research question: When does energy transition become a cohesive topic and when does it become a divisive one instead?
Summary
This project is set to define the Energy Transition Narrative and its contribution to the Community well-being. A specific analysis of news narrative conventions will allow us to describe its specific kind of value and its social weight.
Methodologically speaking: this research defines the Narrative logic form; given that the form shapes the content, as a research hypothesis we can state that the narrower the form, the more divisive the content.
In other words, this project wants to prove that the perception society has on Energy Transition related topics uniquely depends on its Narrative. A comprehensive study of media techniques, political figures' interviews, industry insights, broadcast campaigns and citizens' opinions, opens up to the following question: how does energy transition take shape in people's conversation?
By doing so, this study is able to evaluate the impact of Narrative on Community and, vice-versa, the impact of Community on Narrative. This particular aspect also flips the entire research to its other side question: what do we need to take in consideration in order to create a community-oriented leadership who is able to govern "Energy Transition Era" as time of cohesion rather than time of social tension?
This is an international worldwide level project designed to define a leading Narrative on the renewable energy topic.
Keywords: Energy Transition, Environmental Narrative, Narration, Social Impact, Rights and Responsibilities.
Chenda Wu (吴辰达)
The Labour Rights of Chinese Immigrant Workers in Southern Europe
Curriculum: Human Rights, Society and Multilevel Governance
Supervisor: Maria Caterina La Barbera; Andrea Sitzia
ORCID:
Funded by: China Scholarship Council
Research question: What are the working conditions of Chinese immigrant workers in Southern Europe and how to improve them?
Summary
Today, Chinese immigrants have emerged as one of the largest migrant communities in Europe, playing a significant role in European society and economy. Given China’s key influence in the international arena, the role played by these immigrants in Sino-European relations has also gained substantial importance. Therefore, it is meaningful to gain a deeper understanding of this demographic.
However, the insular and self-reliant nature of the Chinese migrant community has created obstacles for “outsiders” seeking to comprehend its internal dynamics and impeded its integration into the local society. From the view of human rights, Chinese immigrants have had their own entrepreneurship and labour market for a long time, with many labour rights issues but lacking supervision. Due to the special mechanism of this labour market, it is hard for public authorities to intervene.
Hence, I am undertaking this research to shed light on these issues and potentially devise solutions that bridge the informational gap between European scholars, legislators, and the Chinese migrant community. I am focusing and doing comparative research on two Southern European countries, Italy and Spain, which have similar Chinese communities and share a lot in common in their immigration policies. By pursuing this endeavour, I aspire to enhance the working conditions for Chinese migrants and promote a more harmonious relationship between the Chinese migrant population and the broader local society.
Keywords: Migration Studies; Labour Law; China; Southern Europe; Sino-European Relations.