Fourth call for Research Proposals 2024

The European Polarisation Observatory (EPO) has evolved into a robust network within CIVICA, pioneering innovative methods to estimate political positions from social media data. Its second phase (2022-2023) solidified collaborations across platform regulation, social psychology, and political communication, yielding numerous publications and a Horizon 2024 proposal on democracy.

In its third phase (2024-2026), EPO aims to advance fundamental science in political data generation, foster interdisciplinary research across CIVICA, and integrate new partners (Hertie, SNSPA, LSE). This expansion positions EPO as a leading European entity in online political research, crucial amid evolving social media regulations and data ecosystems.

Scientifically, EPO addresses core questions in "data-driven technologies for social sciences," exploring multidimensional political opinion estimation from social media with high temporal granularity. This approach promises to revolutionise social science research, offering insights into polarisation, algorithmic biases, and democratic participation.

Institutions involved 

• Bocconi

• CEU

• Hertie School

• Sciences Po

• SNSPA

• LSE 

   

The project examines the political economy of the green transition, focusing on its distributional implications, public support for green policies, and compensation policies that can enable decarbonization. By addressing socio-economic and political challenges, it aims to provide insights into how this transition affects labour markets, voting behaviour, and policy design across Europe.

Organised into three work packages, the team will first estimate the distribution of “green” and “brown” jobs across EU countries, examining sectoral and regional variations. Second, the project investigates green voting across Europe, exploring the relationship between occupational profiles and voting behaviour, as well as voters’ perceptions and the effectiveness of party messages on climate policies. The final work package will survey public opinion on land use changes to identify policies that can mitigate local resistance to decarbonization.

The project aims to produce at least four peer-reviewed articles and inform policymakers, enhancing the understanding of the green transition’s impact on employment, economic prospects, and political dynamics. Additionally, it will improve collaboration between CIVICA partners and support data collection and public opinion surveys for future EU funding proposals.

Institutions involved

• Bocconi university
• CEU
• LSE

The proposed project seeks to improve our understanding of how to combat housing discrimination against a highly marginalised group, Roma people, in a context where democracy is under threat: Hungary.  A survey experiment with landlords and a field experiment on Budapest’s largest online housing platform, will be carried out to test the effectiveness of different communication strategies for reducing discriminatory behaviour. The project is expected to identify the most effective strategy, and then implement it at scale in collaboration with the municipality of Budapest.

This research project is part of Democracy in the 21st Century thematic priority. 

Institutions involved

• CEU
• Hertie School
• LSE

Nearly 25 years since the Euro's creation, several EU countries have yet to adopt it, and many within the Eurozone remain unconvinced of its benefits. Public debate often emphasises economic aspects, neglecting social factors like collective identities. Previous studies suggested European identity positively influences Euro attitudes, but these were limited to Western Europe and lacked behavioural insights.

This research will explore the effects of European identity on Euro attitudes, considering mediators like self-congruence with Euro users and economic beliefs. It will also account for variables such as ethnocentrism, conservatism, national and global identities, and sociodemographics. Using samples from Sweden, Poland, and Spain—countries with different Euro adoption statuses—we will conduct experiments manipulating European identity activation to provide causal evidence of psychological mechanisms affecting Euro attitudes. This project will establish new collaboration between three CIVICA universities and aims to involve more CIVICA partners, expanding data collection across Europe.The findings could offer actionable communication tools to support European integration, leveraging CIVICA's extensive network and resources.

This project falls under the thematic priotity Europe Revisited.

Institutions involved

• IE University
• SGH Warsaw School of Economics
• Stockholm School of Economics

This project investigates the nuanced dynamics of evidence use in policy-making, particularly how evaluation outcomes are integrated into the decision-making process—a facet that is still insufficiently addressed despite its critical importance 

EVALUSE specifically explores the conditions that foster effective utilisation of evaluations within the policy framework, emphasising the diverse expertise of stakeholders involved. Central to the inquiry are the actors who commission evaluations, the nature of the questions posed, the types of empirical evidence that are prioritised, and the design of evaluations to yield results that not only

inform but also engage and foresee the needs of policy-making. This approach aims to bridge the persisting gap between evaluation insights and their practical application in public policy. Building upon the foundational work of the CIVICA joint course "Policy Evaluation: Praxis and Politics" this project seeks to develop actionable materials and collaborative research outputs that

enhance the understanding and implementation of evidence use in policy evaluation. Additionally, it aims to expand the established network of experts, fostering deeper collaboration to address pressing policy questions effectively. This project aspires to contribute substantially to the discourse on policy evaluation, enhancing its relevance and impact in shaping responsive, evidence-based policy frameworks.

This project falls under the thematic priority Democracy in the 21st Century.

Institutions involved

• CEU
• EUI
• Sciences Po

Executive compensation has been intensely scrutinised in corporate governance research, often focusing on objective incentives like salary and bonuses while overlooking subjective incentives due to a lack of reliable data. This project addresses this gap by extracting subjective incentives from firms' financial disclosures, which reflect strategic priorities, cultural values, and governance practices. Using advanced techniques in Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the project will  construct quantifiable compensation measures from these textual features.

The research will investigate trade-offs between objective and subjective incentives, evaluating their alignment with corporate strategies. This approach aims to enhance models relying on quantitative data, offering valuable insights to academic researchers, compensation committees, investors, and other stakeholders. 

The project will produce academic and practitioner-oriented articles and host a workshop on NLP, ML, and AI applications in corporate governance, disseminating findings to both practitioners and scholars.

This project falls under the Data Driven Technologies for Social Sciences thematic priority. 

Institutions involved

• Bocconi university
• IE University
• Stockholm School of Economics

The EU is committed to improving its climate agenda, balancing public benefits with private efforts, and preventing vested interests from shaping political decisions. Conducted by scholars at the EUI, Bocconi University, and the Hertie School, this project aims to increase awareness of vested interests in EU climate-related policies. The team will construct a dataset of lobbying activities and political outcomes in European Institutions, covering EU member states and major European Institutions, namely the Council, Parliament, and Commission. Data will be sourced from Integrity Watch EU, the EU Transparency Register, and VoteWach EU, using pseudonymisation techniques to respect privacy.

The integrated dataset will provide empirical evidence on lobbying influence through synthetic indicators, benefiting from cross-disciplinary exchange among CIVICA partners. The analyses will inform the design, implementation, and reform of European interventions and political economy dynamics. The project addresses two research questions: the evolution of lobbying activities in the EU and their influence on environmental-related political outcomes. Planned activities include data collection and integration, networking seminars, analysis of lobbying effectiveness, and outreach through a database codebook and a working paper. The project will result in an integrated dataset for future analyses and new knowledge on vested interests and climate-related political outcomes.

This project falls under the thematic priotities Democracy in the 21st Century and Societies in transition, crises of Earth.

Institutions involved

• Bocconi university
• EUI
• Hertie School

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine led to a significant influx of refugees to the EU, with over 4.2 million non-EU citizens under temporary protection as of March 2024. Managing these inflows for the benefit of both host and home societies is crucial for the EU, particularly in supporting Ukraine's recovery. The project explores refugee entrepreneurship as a means of integrating refugees into host countries while maintaining ties to home countries and empowering economic and civic agency.

The project will aim to answer the following:  Under what conditions does refugee entrepreneurship lead to grassroots economic innovation, civic empowerment, and increased transnational connectivity? The analysis will focus on micro-level individual factors, meso-level influences of local networks and NGOs, and macro-level politico-economic contexts of host countries. By examining these factors,the project will  provide insights on the innovative, civic, and transnational potentials of refugee entrepreneurship.

Leveraging the expertise of CIVICA partners and integrating Ukrainian partners, the project will conduct data collection, explorative research, and proof-of-concept analyses. The support from CIVICA will enhance publication records, external partnerships, and prepare a consortium proposal for EU funding, contributing to the "CIVICA for Ukraine" initiative.

Institutions involved

• CEU
• SGH Warsaw School of Economics
• Stockholm School of Economics

Collaborative research projects - each proposal should be developed and submitted by a research team consisting of members from a minimum of three CIVICA universities. (In case of a tie, projects involving more CIVICA partners are given preference.) 

Principal Investigators (PIs) are senior or permanent faculty (or the functional equivalent at the home institution) at one of the CIVICA universities at the time of submitting the application. Team members can include postdocs and non-permanent faculty as long as they have contractual relationship with a CIVICA university until the end of the project. Research teams can include non-CIVICA members, too, but only CIVICA faculty/researchers are financed.

All types of collaborative research projects are eligible, but we encourage links to one of the four CIVICA thematic priorities, including economics, business studies, and/or political economy approaches. We encourage projects that are cross-cutting thematic boundaries. Only innovative, new research ideas will be considered.  

Projects that look for seed funding in the initial phase of a long-term project are also welcome. These types of proposals should be clear about how they will lead to a fully-fledged research project and to a larger grant. The goal of the seed funding is to encourage projects to apply to European funding institutions (Horizon, etc.) but the door is also open to those who wish to apply to national or other international research grants instead.

Previous CIVICA project teams can also apply with new projects, building on their previous projects/findings. For this, their previous CIVICA-funded project must be finished by the time of the application.

Submitted applications will be evaluated by the ‘Permanent Design Team’ (PDT) of CIVICA. The PDT consists of vice-presidents for research and/or senior faculty of the ten CIVICA universities. Formal grant decisions are made by each CIVICA partner following the decision of the PDT. Rejected applications may only receive informal feedback. 

The selection committee evaluates proposals on various dimensions: scientific quality, contribution to CIVICA’s effort for integrated research, feasibility, budget, and the diversity of partners.

This Call is financed from CIVICA’s Erasmus+ funds (except for LSE which is self-funded), and partners’ own resources. Each CIVICA partner university has a different budget for this call and can finance its own faculty to a different extent. Budget plans should detail costs per institutions participating in a project. To find out more on available funding and eligibility, contact your local grant coordinating unit (the list of contact persons at each CIVICA partner is attached). 

All expenses directly related to research projects are eligible, provided they are realistic and in line with the expected results; primarily personnel specifically hired for the project, travel, and individual cost items as per Erasmus+ funding rules. Recurring institutional costs, including personnel costs (overhead, faculty salaries) are not eligible. For details on what specific expenses are eligible, and how much CIVICA funding is available at your university, please contact grant units at your respective universities before submitting the application. Adequate supporting documents to prove costs may be requested. Local rules may apply.

Projects can officially start on 30 June 2024.  

The spending deadline is 31 May 2026.   

By the spending deadline the PDT should receive from the PI(s) a short summary report. The summary report should provide information on activities as outlined in the proposal (including steps to larger grants, if relevant); and names of who was involved in those activities. PIs are requested to signal, if any part of the summary report is confidential, and should not be made publicly available. Throughout the funding period, the PI (and his/her team) should provide a brief description of the project to be published on the CIVICA website. Local conditions may apply for SGH researchers.

All applicants should use the application form. 

Applications need to be submitted electronically to research[at]civica.eu with the subject line "Application - Fourth call for research proposals" by the set deadline:

2 June 2024, 23:59pm (CEST)

For more information on the substantive aspects of the call, please write to your grant coordinator or to: research(at)civica.eu.

• 31 March 2024 – Call for Proposals announced 

• 2 June 2024 – Application deadline 

• 7 June 2024 – Formal eligibility checks completed 

• 21 June 2024 – Announcement of winners on the CIVICA website 

• 31 May 2026 – Spending deadline

Applying to CIVICA grants consists of the following steps:

Step 1 – Members of the applying research team are to contact their respective grant coordinating units (e.g. ACRO in CEU, Research Development Team in LSE, etc.) in the planning stage of the application to enquire about funds available for CIVICA partners at each university, and about formal requirements and eligible expenses. In other words, applying consortia will be required to submit cost calculations separated by CIVICA partners with their applications. 

Step 2 – Research teams are required to prepare one single joint application (including the separate cost calculations) and submit it to research(at)civica.eu before the deadline. The project must have an acronym.The submitted file must be named the project acronym (e.g. “EUFUTUR.doc” or “EUFUTUR.pdf”).  

Through a Single Review Process, CIVICA’s Permanent Design Team (PDT) will select projects on merit and inform the grant units in universities concerned. The PDT will also check whether the application meets the formal criteria set in the application guidelines. If one CIVICA partner finds that its part of the budget does not meet the criteria, applicants are consulted to fix any error. PIs may be requested by the PDT to modify their budgets.

Step 3 – Following the decision by the PDT, grant coordinators at partner universities will formally decide on the financial aspects, in line with the decision of the PDT and within the limits of their available CIVICA funds. 

Step 4 – Grant units of CIVICA partners inform the PDT. The PDT announces winners. Members of winning consortia contract with their respective universities for funding. 

• Bocconi: Claudia Piccioni claudia.piccioni(at)unibocconi.it  
• CEU: Daniel Izsak izsakd(at)ceu.edu and Timea Mester-Takacs mtakacst(at)ceu.edu   
• EUI: Zeineb Mazouz zeineb.mazouz(at)eui.eu
• Hertie: Enora Palaric palaric(at)hertie-school.org
• IE University: Celia Rubio celia.rubio(at)ie.edu
• Sciences Po: Elsa Bedos elsa.bedos(at)sciencespo.fr    
• SGH Warsaw School of Economics: Lukasz Skrok lskrok(at)sgh.waw.pl
• SNSPA: Gabriel Viiu gabriel.alexandru.viiu(at)snspa.ro 
• SSE: Jelena Angelis jelena.angelis(at)hhs.se
• LSE: Helen Rosemont h.v.rosemont(at)lse.ac.uk