From research to policy
Meeting the need for knowledge about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted this group of children and youth, the project aims to contribute to the development of novel, research-driven inclusive policies and practices in the participating countries, thus contributing to the overall wellbeing of children and young people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.
Researchers meet across disciplines
The research group consists of researchers from several disciplines, specifically those related to educational, sociological and wellbeing fields. It uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore how the pandemic has affected the educational trajectory of children and youth from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.
The research question is approached with certain assumptions, namely that children’s sense of belonging, as well as their social capital, is important for their wellbeing, and that there is a close connection between school, social capital, and other aspects of life.
Four work packages
WP1
The first work package will describe the official strategies adopted in each country and conduct a scoping review of research on how the pandemic has affected children and youth.
WP2
Work package 2 will conduct qualitative research together with children, youth and their families to collaboratively produce knowledge of their experiences with the pandemic.
Read more about The educational experience - WP2
WP3
WP 3 will investigate the experiences, practices and strategies of different frontline professionals in providing institutional support for refugee children and youth.
WP4
WP 4 will integrate disciplinary knowledge from the different work packages and compare findings across the contributing countries to arrive at interdisciplinary knowledge to guide suggestions for actions.
As part of WP 4, the findings from the three other packages will be combined, simplified and offered back to the research participants in workshops in which they will be invited to offer their stories that explain what happened, and their own suggestions for improvement, based on the findings from the earlier stages of the research. We therefore meet the research participants as co-researchers.
Participating institutions
- Tampere University, Finland
- Aalborg University, Denmark
- VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research
- Dalarna University, Sweden
- Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway (coordinator)
Financing body
The project has been awarded funding under the Nordforsk grant "Welfare among Children and Young people in the Post-Pandemic Nordics".
