There are still severe limitations in Portugal in terms of systematic, up-to-date and in-depth knowledge about the circumstances and living conditions experienced by Roma/Ciganos in Portugal. This poses a challenge to overseeing the outcomes and efficacy of public policies as well as efforts towards the integration of this community. This research aims to address these shortcomings by gathering and providing a broad, robust, and detailed data set from multiple sources through the implementation of a methodology characterized by methodological pluralism. Within this analytical framework, the present investigation shall employ a multifaceted methodology that encompasses both qualitative and quantitative techniques as well as participatory methodologies. In conjunction with two survey-based questionnaires designed to elicit data pertaining to strategic fields of inquiry such as health, employment, education, housing, vocational training, gender inequality, discrimination and anti-gypsyism - thereby yielding quantitative data - we will also leverage more nuanced qualitative information. This study will feature data gathered from sociological portraits obtained through in-depth interviews, ethnographies conducted across diverse socio-housing contexts, analysis of historical sources and participatory methods. Our approach to the development, execution, monitoring and dissemination of this research actively encourages the participation of individuals and groups with Roma heritage as key protagonists in shaping knowledge about their own community. The objective is to execute a comprehensive approach of collaborative knowledge co-creation, conducting research "with" the Roma/Ciganos rather than "about and for" them (Ryder, 2018). Throughout this endeavour, it is intended to engage with Roma organizations and informal groups, as well as other institutions that operate in close proximity with this community across different levels (local, regional and national). One of the...

In EU the majority of the Ciganos continues to experience low educational attainment, high rates of school failure and drop-out and low rates of school completion.The National Study about Ciganos Communities (2014) covered all areas of continental Portugal, surveying 1,599 individuals concluded that only about 6% had completed the 3rd grade (9 years of formal education), while only 2.5% completed secondary or higher education. There are parallels between the present situation of Portuguese Ciganos and those experienced by Roma elsewhere in the EU. It is more a result of structural inequality than due to a lack of skills: a ?one-sided mismatch?.A recent qualitative study conducted by some members of the research team (2013-2015) found that in some neighbourhoods in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto it is still common for Ciganos to not complete compulsory schooling. Among the adults there was no example of continuing in formal education until 12th grade.Taking what has been said into consideration, our proposal?s main aims are:1)To identify and understand the trajectories of Cigano pupils attending secondary school in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Oporto, and their aspirations for access to higher education. We intend to do this by mobilizing an interactive, dynamic and procedural interpretive model involving six crossover levels to measure success.To this end, we intend to adopt an essentially qualitative methodology that uses research and participatory methods, in the belief that participatory approaches allow the local contexts to benefit from broader experiences, by linking research processes to academic researchers as well as to Cigano representatives and stakeholders. 2) The research phase will be followed by the development of a common curriculum that will provide vocational and 12th grade certification to young Ciganos who have dropped out of formal education.This proposed training will implement participatory actionresearch procedures in the ...

This project aims at analysing how diversity, of a cosmopolitan type, or superdiversity, has been requested by political decision makers and part of urban planning and what factors and dynamics contribute to this configuration. Research that will be supported by a qualitative approach will focus on the mechanisms and strategies for accommodating cultural diversity in the local space, exploring both the everyday experiences and cultural encounters and the strategic and deliberative aspects of local governance networks. We ask how cultural diversity is incorporated in processes of urban renewal, in the creation of images of the city, in gentrification dynamics, paying particular attention to the subjects and strategies of local governance.  

The central objective was to analyze the social situation of the Portuguese Ciganos/Roma through the delimitation of a set of dimensions and indicators that allowed mapping of the profiles and their distribution in the national territory, taking into account their socio-demographic characteristics, patterns of territorial insertion, (interviews, documentary analysis, the Delphi method). In addition, it has been used as a tool to improve the quality of life of the Roma community.

This research intends to advance in the sociological knowledge about the impact of social policies on the schooling of Gypsies/Roma women and men, and their effects on individuals and on Gypsies families. The search aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Portuguese Gypsies; in fact, studies about Gypsies have gained an increasing importance in Portugal in recent years. However it is noted the persistence of social regularities associating Gypsies to poverty, racism and social exclusion, as there are in some countries worsening situations of racism with the expulsion of Gypsies.

Our principal aim is to describe, analyze and compare new super-diverse convivial contexts, as they relate to the process of migrations shaping new cultural realms. Our approach does not involve the idealization of harmonic intercultural relations but considers convivial contexts as new fields of intercultural tensions and interactions as an attempt to understand their dynamics and the social, historic and personal factors that lead to willingness to coexist with ethnic heterogeneity or to reject it. Consequently, it envisions applying an innovative framework to understanding intercultural relations among national and migrant populations. From the perspective of social topography, the new convivial cultures are not associated with a specific geographic space. They correspond to different public contexts in which people with links to various ethnic or cultural groups interact. The research will focus on formal/informal settings linked to distinct social functions in each city: Leisure & spaces dedicated to religious practices; Market/shopping area (open-air or indoor market frequented by various ethnic and cultural groups); School/education (where intercultural relations take place between generations and groups-key for overseeing societal evolution of intercultural dialogue); These spaces are important for grasping the real meaning of intercultural relations because as Amin stated, even if “ the national frame of racial and ethnic relations remains important, much of the negotiation of difference occurs at the very local level, through everyday experiences and encounters”.

The objectives of this study were, on the one hand, 1) to identify and characterize the immigrants living in this municipality by applying a questionnaire survey to 400 individuals / family groups; on the other, 2) the apprehension and analysis of the practices of racism and discrimination against immigrant groups, as well as the contribution of immigrants to the local economy, main problems felt, relations with public and private institutions based in the municipality, etc. in addition to documentary analysis and the collection and analysis of statistical data, interviews were conducted with local institutions, services and NGOs that intervene with immigrant groups.

The objectives of this study were, on the one hand, 1) to identify and characterize the immigrants living in this county through the application of a questionnaire survey to more than 400 individuals / family groups; on the other, 2) the apprehension and analysis of the practices of racism and discrimination against immigrant groups, as well as the contribution of immigrants to the local economy, main problems felt, relations with public and private institutions based in the municipality, etc. in addition to documentary analysis and the collection and analysis of statistical data, interviews were conducted with local institutions, services and NGOs that intervene with immigrant groups.

This project aims to study the voluntary associations that develop their activity in specific contexts (urban or rural), seeking to contribute to an improvement in the quality of life, namely by dynamizing or revitalizing (social, cultural and economically) the areas where they are sited. This study will identify and analyse the different moments in the course of a local development project, within the generic formulation of public policies (European and/or national programmes), field implementation strategies, and also, the consequences drawn from local formation of social capital networks.

The purpose of this project is the establishment of an observation and analysis implement on the two central processes which are transforming the portuguese development pattern: the recombination process of the competitive factors which is giving raise to new factors such as quality, flexibility and strategic capacity as a result of the internationalization; the production process of new forms of social exclusion.