UOC study on educational equity awarded grant by prestigious Spencer Foundation

Crossing Borders to Connect Routes. Researching with educational communities to promote equity and fight racism towards immigrants in a post-pandemic world. This is the title of the research project chosen from among hundreds of proposals submitted in response to the call for entries for Racial Equity Special Research Grants promoted by the US-based Spencer Foundation. The project is an international case study whose main aim is to identify and analyse both structural and emerging forms of racism and inequity in education that affect immigrants in the framework of the social and health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project is led by the UOC's Nodes research group. Five other universities are also involved: City University of New York, University of Wisconsin, University of Malta, Brazil's Federal University of Goiás and Uruguay's University of the Republic. The project is coordinated by UOC faculty members Amalia Creus from the Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences and Adriana Ornellas from the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences.

The research, which covers different educational stages and contexts, is organized into six case studies: two in the United States, and one each in the other countries: Brazil, Malta, Spain and Uruguay. In the case of Spain, the research team will focus its efforts mainly on young people and non-formal educational contexts. The two studies in the US will look at organizations that work to promote training for immigrants in university contexts. In Malta, they will study educational experiences and opportunities for asylum-seekers and refugees. And, In Brazil, they'll look at adult education. In the case of Uruguay, the researchers are going to focus on pre-primary and primary schools with a high percentage of children from the migrant population.

"The chance to carry out a qualitative study of this magnitude, collecting data and experiences in five countries in different parts of the world will enable us to add to the vision on the effects of the pandemic provided by existing studies, most of which are quantitative. Our research will focus on the feel and nuances of the pandemic as a lived experience," said Creus.

In addition to helping gain an in-depth understanding of how the pandemic is affecting the education pathways and opportunities of particularly vulnerable groups in different countries and contexts, this transnational research project will also make it possible to identify and transfer innovative practices and policies so as to foster educational equity and fight racism. To achieve this, the project, which will be carried out over three years, will include holding co-creation workshops with a variety of stakeholders and education communities in each participating country.

As Ornellas explained, "the project's community-based participatory research approach will provide the necessary tools and framework to transform inclusive education practices and policies and best practice models to promote resilience at both individual and institutional levels".

Nodes: interdisciplinary research on current social challenges

Nodes is a new research group comprising researchers from three faculties at the UOC (Information and Communication Sciences; Psychology and Educational Sciences, and Law and Political Science) with the aim of conducting research on current social challenges from a transdisciplinary perspective. Its work revolves around four interdisciplinary lines of research: 1) diversity, gender, and processes of visibility and invisibility, and social inclusion and exclusion; 2) the ethical dimension of digital technologies; 3) public policies and social and political movements in the fields of education, urbanism and communication; and 4) the social representations and discourses of visual culture.

This study supports Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, No Poverty; 4, Quality Education; and 10, Reduced Inequality.

UOC R&I

The UOC's research and innovation (R&I) is helping overcome pressing challenges faced by global societies in the 21st century, by studying interactions between technology and human & social sciences with a specific focus on the network society, e-learning and e-health.

Over 500 researchers and 52 research groups work among the University's seven faculties and two research centres: the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

The University also cultivates online learning innovations at its eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC), as well as UOC community entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer via the Hubbik platform.

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and open knowledge serve as strategic pillars for the UOC's teaching, research and innovation. More information: research.uoc.edu #UOC25years