On 4-5 of December this year, the regional conference Western Balkans in comparative perspectives – European Social Survey will be organized in Montenegro.
The conference is part of the Western Balkans European Social Survey Regional Network project. The main idea of the conference is to exchange experience on participating in the European Social Survey and discuss models for cooperation between researchers, and researchers and policy makers.
Given that the Western Balkans region lacks an adequate comparative and longitudinal perspective due to the lack of research of this type, this conference will be a chance to bridge this gap. The conference will be an opportunity for researchers from the region and beyond, who focus on the Western Balkans, to analyze ESS data and to identify similarities and differences both within the WB region and between this region and other European countries.
The goal of the conference is to strengthen the cooperation between researchers and to bring them together over common ideas or research topics that could lead to multilateral or bilateral joint work. This cooperation will contribute to advancement of scientific research in the region, including practical issues such as funding, collaborative research grant applications, methodological and data archiving problems, etc. The conference will mostly gather researchers from the Western Balkan countries that already conducted ESS research and researchers from other WB countries that are preparing for their first ESS survey in round 10.
The conference will also be a chance for policy makers to get acquainted with the work of the ESS and its data that can benefit their work, and lead to quality public policies for the entire society. We hope to raise their interest in opening cooperation with researchers and continuous monitoring of ESS research results.
In the upcoming months more information about the conference will be published, including the call for papers.
Author: Natasa Krivokapic, Regional Coordinator
