Shortly after the signing of the agreement between the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (ISPJR-UKIM) and the Ministry for Education and Science (MES), which marked the official beginning of the ESS Round 10 implementation in North Macedonia, the national team organized a public event dedicated to the presentation of ESS and the questionnaire topics. The goal of the event was to familiarize future ESS data users, especially national stakeholders outside academia, with the ESS and the numerous ways in which the collected data can be used.
Welcoming remarks were delivered by the director of the ISPJR-UKIM, assoc. prof. d-r Bojana Naumovska, and d-r Arafat Shabani, Deputy-minister of MES, who emphasized the importance of North Macedonia’s inclusion in ESS ERIC. The ambassador of ESS for South-East Europe, Mr. Nenad Celarevic, underlined the success in caring out the ESS for the first time in North Macedonia.
The ESS national coordinator, prof. d-r Aneta Cekikj (ISPJR-UKIM), provided a comprehensive overview of ESS ERIC and the importance of the participation of North Macedonia in this cross-national European survey. She presented the structure of the questionnaire and explained ESS’s approach in adapting to the specific needs of policy-makers and scientists through timely coverage of publicly relevant topics in the next rounds of the survey, in addition to the core topics covered in each round.
Following the introductory segment of the event, the members of the ESS national team presented the complete ESS questionnaire while focusing on several sub-themes: “Conditions of life, social welfare and challenges from the surrounding”; “Use of media and network communication”; “The perspective of citizens on politics and democracy”; “Human values in the contemporary context” and “Employment and working life in conditions of the Covid-19 crisis”. Apart from the questionnaire themes, the presenters attempted to emphasize the importance of the upcoming ESS data on North Macedonia for both scientific and policy purposes. The public interest for the event was substantial: approximately 60 attendees followed the event via the Zoom platform and through ISPJR-UKIM’s Facebook page. The audience included representatives from the office of the President of North Macedonia and the Government, as well as representatives from different ministries, national public agencies and institutions, local self-government units, trade unions and policy think-tanks. The members of the national network of ESS in North Macedonia, prominent researchers and students also followed the event. The high level of public interest is certainly promising for the future implementation of ESS in North Macedonia.
Here you can find the agenda of the meeting.
The text was written by Klime Babunski
