Events

Speakers:

• Professor Wouter Poortinga, Cardiff University 
• Dr. Sylke Viola Schnepf, Joint Research Centre, European Commission 
• Dr. Ilda Dreoni, Joint Research Centre, European Commission 
• Dr. Ruxandra Comănaru, European Social Survey, City St George’s, University of London 
• Dr David Consolazio, European Values Study, University of Milan 
• Dr Yuliya Kazakova, Generations and Gender Programme, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute 

This workshop introduced participants to the Green Pillar of the NextGenerationEU Programme, focusing on how social science research can support efforts to tackle climate change and support green projects across Europe.

Through a mix of expert presentations and hands-on group work, participants explored key theoretical frameworks, relevant European data sources, and practical approaches to applied social research. 

Academic experts presented core concepts and models underpinning the Green Pillar, alongside an overview of major European surveys such as the European Social Survey (ESS), European Values Study (EVS), Generations and Gender Programme (GGP), and the CRONOS-3 dataset.

Joint Research Centre (JRC) experts highlighted how social research contributes to evidence-based green policies. 

Participants worked in small groups to develop policy-relevant research questions, select suitable data sources, and plan feasible analytical strategies.

Guided group work enabled participants to conduct preliminary analyses and prepare short presentations or visual outputs.

The workshop concluded with these group presentations and a discussion to reflect on research design, findings, and next steps.

View a copy of the presentation slides

Recordings of the presentations are available

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Apply theoretical frameworks and European social data to research questions related to tackling climate change and supporting green projects. 
• Develop feasible and policy-relevant research questions, including the selection of appropriate data sources and analytical approaches. 
• Communicate preliminary research findings effectively to academic and policy-oriented audiences through clear visual and oral presentations. 

About the speakers

Professor Wouter Poortinga is Professor of environmental psychology at the Welsh School of Architecture and the School of Psychology at Cardiff University. Professor Poortinga is the Make it Green academic expert, who has developed questions for the project’s CRONOS-3 panel, now available via the ESS Data Portal. Professor Poortinga has also written two reports as part of the project: European Attitudes to Climate Change and the Environment (Data Summary) and European Attitudes to Climate Change, Fairness, and Action (Topline Results). He led the Questionnaire Design Team (QDT) who included climate change and energy questions in the European Social Survey for the first time.

Dr. Sylke V. Schnepf, serves as a senior policy advisor in the Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy. She is a member of the Survey Methods and Analysis Centre (SMAC), where she conducts research on survey design, and contributes to the Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation by engaging in research, teaching, and advisory activities focused on the quantitative evaluation of education policy. Sylke has made significant contributions to research on inequality, addressing issues such as carbon emissions, climate change, education, and loneliness. She also publishes on counterfactual impact evaluation of policies aimed at mitigating these inequalities. 

Dr. Ilda Dreoni is an applied development and environmental economist working as economic analyst at the Fiscal Policy Analysis team of JRC-Seville. Before joining JRC in 2023, she worked as a researcher at the University of Southampton, where she worked on quantitative analysis to measure the impact of international trade on income, poverty, income inequalities, and multidimensional well-being. She further collaborated with the WorldPop group on a project for the construction of a geospatial health and development indicator atlas for India. Ilda is also experienced in academic teaching and supervision in topics such as Advanced Environmental Economics, Applied Statistics, Microeconomics and Quantitative Analysis as well as capacity building of researchers and practitioners.

Dr. Ruxandra Comănaru is a research fellow at the European Social Survey HQ based at City St George’s, University of London. She is primarily working on the Make it Green pillar within the Infra4NextGen project, as well as coordinating the collaboration between the other strands of the project. Ruxandra’s research interests include the design and adaptation of surveys for mixed modes of data collection, with a focus on enhancing the methodological accuracy of self-completion methods. She is also interested in questionnaire design, translation and cultural equivalence of research concepts.

Dr. David Consolazio is Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Milan. Within the Infra4NextGen project, he works mainly on the Make it Digital and Make it Healthy pillars. David’s research interests lie at the intersection of sociology, epidemiology, and urban studies, focusing on the interplay of individual and contextual-level factors in shaping health and social outcomes, with particular attention on the social determinants of health and residential segregation phenomena. 

Dr. Yuliya Kazakova is a research fellow for GGP based at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI KNAW). Her work centres on the Make it Equal and Make it Strong pillars in the Infra4NextGen project. This involves close collaboration with leading European academics, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre experts, and the Youth Board to engage young Europeans in data-driven discussion on key issues for future generations. Yuliya’s research interests lie in the field of health economics together with the evaluation of public policies with a particular focus on childhood health, childhood poverty and maternal employment.

This event was organised by ADP – Slovenian Social Science Data Archives.