TRANSFER Aims to Bridge Gaps between Research, Policy and Practice for More Inclusive Education
New Project TRANSFER Aims to Bridge Gaps between Research, Policy and Practice for More Inclusive Education
Educational inequalities remain a persistent challenge across Europe, with disadvantaged learners continuing to face significant barriers to educational success. At the same time, education policies are not always systematically evaluated, and research in the field remains fragmented and insufficiently connected to policymaking and everyday practice.
The new Horizon Europe project TRANSFER sets out to address these challenges by strengthening policy evaluation and knowledge exchange between research, policy and practice through an integrated approach, while placing equity and inclusion at the centre of its work.
TRANSFER will develop and test a participatory, mixed-method framework with evaluation throughout the policy cycle at its centre. Rather than focusing primarily on outcomes after implementation, researchers will examine how education policies are developed, put into practice and experienced, as well as their intended and unintended effects. A common methodology, adapted to national contexts, will allow the project to generate both country-specific findings and comparative insights across different European education systems. Particular attention will be given to how policy effects vary across groups and contexts, including inequalities related to socioeconomic background, migration, gender and disability.
Coordinated by Andreas Hadjar, Professor of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Research at the University of Fribourg, TRANSFER brings together a multidisciplinary consortium of 13 partners from Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, and is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme for the next three years.
Ireland is represented by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). The study team includes Dr. Merike Darmody (PI), Prof. Emer Smyth and Dr. Timo Van Canegem.
Website: TRANSFER | European Research and Project Office GmbH
