“Between personalization and democratization”
From September 2015 to August 2017, ESPOL-LAB hosted a post-doctoral researcher, Antonella Seddone, to conduct her research project ‘Between personalization and democratization: the changing role of members within political parties’. As part of the ESPOL-LAB research area ‘Quality of democracy’, this project was funded under the programme ‘Accueil de Jeunes Chercheurs 2015’ by the Conseil Régional Nord – Pas de Calais. During her stay at ESPOL, the post-doctoral researcher published widely in collaboration with members of the research unit, especially with Giulia Sandri. Antonella Seddone continues to work with several colleagues as an associate researcher of ESPOL-LAB.
« Farmer-led strategies to resist factory farming in the Global South »
Dr Brendan Coolsaet (ESPOL) and Dr Kristin Reynolds (The New School / Yale University) were awarded a grant by Tiny Beam Fund, a private US-based foundation, in 2019 for the “Farmer-led strategies to resist factory farming in the Global South” project.
The research project was about understanding the dynamics of small-scale and industrial livestock production in emerging economies such as Brazil, India, and China, as well as regions of the world that have traditionally received less attention in ‘pro-poor’ agricultural development, such as parts of West Africa or East Africa.
JUSTCONSERVATION: Towards “just conservation”: linking theories and practices of justice in biodiversity conservation
JUSTCONSERVATION was a project led by ESPOL between 2020 and 2023, funded by the Centre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity (CESAB) of the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB). The project involved colleagues from 9 research institutions, based in 7 different countries, and aimed at theories and practices of justice in the conservation of biodiversity.The project contributed to fill a critical gap in current efforts to significantly advance the knowledge on ways to achieve both the social and ecological objectives associated with the conservation of biodiversity.
JUST-SCAPES: Environmental justice analysis to advance rural landscape transformations in the face of climate change
ESPOL-LAB was a partner in the Just-Scapes project, from 2020 to 2023, funded by the Pan-European intergovernmental Joint Programming Initiative Climate (JPI Climate) as part of its SOLSTICE progamme. With three other partners (the University of East Anglia (UK), the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic) and the INRAE (France)), this project aimed at advancing the understanding of the concept and practice of “Just Transformation”: a justice-based approach to shaping transformational change. In particular, JUST-SCAPES addressed the challenge of transforming rural landscapes in response to climate change.
O.C.T.A.V.: Collaborative Observatory on Terrorism, Anti-Terrorism and Violence
The ‘Collaborative Observatory on Terrorism, Anti-Terrorism and Violence’ (O.C.T.A.V.) was was an initiative of scientists from various disciplinary backgrounds, supported and funded by LabToP-CRESPPA-Paris8-CNRS, ESPOL-ICL, REPI-ULB and CERI-SciencesPo/CNRS, to explore issues related to “terrorism”, “anti-terrorism” by questioning their relationship to the contemporary transformations of violence and politics. Active from 2017 to 2022, it was later continued through to the Institut pour la Paix (IPP), founded in October 2022.
PELICAN2020: Participation Electorale, Listes et Candidats dans le Nord – 2020
The PELICAN project (“Electoral Participation in the Lille Metropolis”) is a research project funded by ESPOL, the school of political science of the Catholic University of Lille, and the CERAPS research lab of the University of Lille. Thr PELICAN team was part of the lager national research group « Collectif de Recherche sur les Élections Municipales et Intercommunales (CREMI) » (Research Collective on Municipal and Intercommunal Elections). The project aimed to examine the composition of the electoral lists of municipalities in the Hauts-de-France region, and to study both the determinants of voter turnout and abstention in this election. This research agenda evolved due to the health crisis overlapping with the project period. The initial PELICAN project included a post-election survey and an “exit poll” survey; however, the latter could not be conducted due to the health crisis. The PEOPLE 2022 research project succeeded the PELICAN project.
PEOPLE2020: Pratiques Électorales et OPinions Lors des Élections de 2022 project (2021-2022)
PEOPLE2022 (“Electoral behaviour and political opinions of citizens in the 2022 French presidential elections”) was the sucessor research project of PELICAN2020, funded by the “Ambroise” research grants of the Université catholique de Lille, ESPOL and the CERAPS research centre of the University of Lille. The project explored French citizens’ participation in electoral campaigns on online and offline media as well as media’s influence on their voting behaviour in the context of (post) health crisis. The project entailed the quantitative analysis of online media content, an online survey and exit polls.
RECONNECT: “Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law”
ESPOL-LAB was a partner in the RECONNECT (Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law) project. This 4-year multi-disciplinary project funded by the European Union under the framework programme H2020. The project brings together a consortium of 18 academic partner institutions from 14 countries, coordinated by KU Leuven. RECONNECT aims at understanding and providing solutions to the recent challenges faced by the European Union. With an explicit focus on strengthening the EU’s legitimacy through democracy and the rule of law, RECONNECT seeks to build a new narrative for Europe, enabling the EU to become more attuned to the expectations of its citizens. A special focus is on EU economic and fiscal policy, on terrorism, international commerce and on migration. Members of ESPOL-LAB contribute particularly to work package 6 ‘Practices of democracy’ and in work package 11 ‘Counter-terrorism’.
“Reviving democratic participation in Europe: lessons from the crisis”
Professor Michael Holmes (Liverpool Hope University) completed a research stay at ESPOL-LAB, funded by the Regional Council Nord-Pas de Calais under their ‘Invited researchers’ programme. During his stay in Lille throughout the year 2017, Michael Holmes pursued a project on the impact of the Euro crisis on political parties as agents of democratic participation. Results of this work is an edited volume (to be published by Manchester University Press) to which Julien Navarro and Antonella Seddone contributed, and to the organisation of an international conference on Brexit in November 2017. Michael Holmes later joined ESPOL as Associate Professor.
Semences Paysannes – Developing the resilience of organic field crop sectors in a context of climate change and protection of water resources: the development of farmers’ seeds and their use by the sector
ESPOL-LAB was involved in the “Semences paysannes” (“Farmer’s seeds”) project alongside Bio en Grand Est and ARDEAR Grand-Est between 2020 and 2023, funded by the Agence de l’eau Seine Normandie. The project aimed to contribute to the preservation of water resources by changing agricultural practices through the development of farmer seeds to save water. The project notably contributed to structure a collective organisation for the management of farmers’ seeds and support an emerging group around the use, conservation, multiplication and selection of farmers’ seeds; improve knowledge about farmer seeds and participate in the development of farmers’ skills on the subject and share this knowledge; and help structuring local value chains for crops grown from farmers’ seeds in Champagne-Ardenne.