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27-11-2019 | © Bannafarsai_Stock, Shutterstock 3 mins read

Benefit-sharing as a tool for equitable change

The BENELEX project conducted the first systematic evaluation of how international law can support the use of benefit-sharing as a tool for equitable change.

20-11-2019 | © Jason Reifler 6 mins read

Why are people’s misperceptions so hard to shake?

The most powerful source of misperceptions about important issues such as immigration and climate change are false beliefs rooted in people’s political or social preferences, but having people who question authority is also important for a society, according to ERC grantee Jason Reifler, from the University of Exeter, UK.

15-10-2019 | Fish Market in the Indian Ocean © Nick Graham - Portrait picture: © Nick Graham 3 mins read

Bet on fish to tackle malnutrition

Food security is one of the grand challenges of our time, but many factors hinder meeting global targets set in the “Zero Hunger” UN Sustainable Development Goal. Two billion people are thought to be micronutrient deficient, yet in many poor countries, fish could provide a readily available and cheap source of micronutrients and protein. Prof. Christina Hicks is particularly interested in fish micronutrients and small-scale fisheries, a sector that holds potential for feeding people in coastal areas but is often forgotten in world strategies against malnutrition.

01-07-2019 | © picture 2 mins read

Searching for the purest microwaves

Microwaves are widely employed in the technologies we use in our daily life - from global navigation systems (like GPS or Galileo), to the satellites used for the weather forecast. They are also important for more ambitious endeavors such as space navigation. The work of Prof. Yanne Chembo has contributed to the next generation of microwaves.

12-06-2019 | ©istockphoto.com/ThitareeSarmkasat 3 mins read

Wearable devices to help prevent sudden unexpected death through epilepsy

To this day, little is known about sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Only very few cases have actually been witnessed or monitored. But that might be about to change. Wearable electronics could provide just the solution researchers have been looking for.

08-05-2019 | © picture 3 mins read

The Great Recession and political conflict in Europe

ELECTION SERIES #4

The EU-funded POLCON project aims to understand the impact that the Great Recession has had on the development of political conflict in Europe.

08-05-2019 | © picture 3 mins read

Is political participation contagious?

ELECTION SERIES #7

Why are some people more likely to vote or stand for election than others? Researchers based in Sweden are doing some deep data diving to find out how our social surroundings and our genes influence political participation.

08-05-2019 | © picture 3 mins read

Civil society under growing state control?

ELECTION SERIES #8

State regulation of civil society has grown consistently over the past decade, raising concerns over the eroding role of the latter in shaping democratic decision-making. The ERC-funded STATORG project has investigated this issue across several long-lived democracies, considering country-specific regulations and how these affect civil society organisations.

08-05-2019 | © picture 4 mins read

Politics, the art of the possible – but who chooses party politics and who chooses protest, and why?

ELECTION SERIES #5

One would not be mistaken to assume that traditional party politics has become side‑lined by the rise of an angrier, more direct form of protest politics, supercharged by years of austerity following the financial crash of 2008-2009. One ERC-funded project, POLPART, has been dedicated to understanding how and why people become engaged in politics and what this means for ongoing efforts to strengthen and preserve our democracies for the future.

30-04-2019 | © iStockphoto.com 3 mins read

Gender talk in the corridors of Brussels

ELECTION SERIES #2

Because the European Parliament represents such a diverse group of people, with different cultural and political backgrounds, it is the perfect ground to understand how gender equality operates in the halls of power. ERC grantee Johanna Kantola and her team have shadowed many members of Parliament and their teams, to study gender practices and policies inside Europe’s legislative machine.