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 project is based on two diagnosis applied to students and professors from Portuguese Higher Education Institutions (HEI), on academic inclusion of students from Portuguese Speaking African Countries (PALOP) in two institutions: the School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal (2013) and ISCTE-IUL (2016). In both cases, it became clear that there is a need to adopt strategies and instruments to promote the inclusion of international PALOP students, namely to produce and test materials to deepen their linguistic-communicative skills, for academic purposes, in different varieties of the Portuguese language. On one hand, skills related to oral and written comprehension of European Portuguese used in Portuguese HEI; on the other hand, skills related to the oral and written production of texts required by academic activity, in any language and its respective varieties.  Previous projects developed at ISCTE-IUL and in other Portuguese HEI have confirmed these same needs, but without exploring the sociolinguistic backdrop that is central to this project.   The research-action project derives from two fundamental needs. First, to promote a deeper understanding on the communicative linguistic repertoires and skills of each student, through: a) recognizing the African varieties of the Portuguese language, and the sociolinguistic contexts of each country of origin; b) promoting a deeper knowledge on the differences between the schooling countries and the higher education country, considering the students’ previous school practices, over 12 years of schooling in Portuguese (either first language (L1) or second language (L2)). Second, to identify needs for more comprehensive and efficient responses of social and academic inclusion at different Portuguese HEIs in relation to these international students. Consequently, we aim contributing to a more efficient and sustainable internationalisation of the higher education system (also) through the Portuguese...

This research project focuses particularly on groups of socially excluded youth – homeless young people and those at risk of homelessness - and promotes a dynamic understanding of their life-trajectories. It takes into account gender and ethnic minority affiliation and its policy outcomes and programme recommendations will apply across these groups of young people and those with low education qualifications, and poorer employment and social integration prospects. Moreover, it involves the active participation of young people as both subject and object involving participatory research methods to achieve relevant findings for the personal development of young people, their social integration and social cohesion. Levels of youth homelessness vary between European countries in relation to the patterns of support available to young people through their own economic efforts, social security transfers, family support and costs of entering local housing markets.  All of these factors also vary within countries in relation to gender, ethnic minority group and migrant status. However, even Mediterranean societies, with strong family support systems, have begun to experience youth homelessness amongst local as well as migrant populations.In Northern Europe interventionist programmes have been developed designed to either: a) structure social work with hostel dwellers (the Netherlands ‘8 Step Programme) to promote reintegration and social inclusion within hostels for adult homeless and b) prevent youth homelessness among those most at risk (school excluded and runaways) through providing personal, education/employment development and family support through a multi-agency network (the UK ‘Safe Moves’ programme). CSEYHP is designed to test these programmes.  CSEYP will: 1) Investigate the efficacy of these programmes with different homeless youth populations (male/female, ethnic minorities and migrant youth) in the Netherlands and UK and review the work of parallel programmes bei...