Academics will not be the only leading actors: 96 high school students coming from Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Sweden, and a long list of youth organizations, together with EU representatives will join the first CATCH-EyoU - Constructing AcTive CitizenchHip with European Youth: policies, practices, challenges and solutions conference to discuss on the “complex” relationships between young people, the EU and political engagement.
Two main challenges are in the spotlight: to understand whether and how the EU can be brought closer to young citizens and to get a clearer picture on how young people conceive and experience active citizenship in their daily life.
The conference will host keynote lectures from leading scholars in the field of political and social sciences: Ariadne Vromen, University of Sydney; Martyn Barrett, University of Surrey; Xenia Chryssochoou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.
Other eminent scholars from different scientific fields will discuss on active citizenship in relation to the EU and young people. In addition, researchers from the CATCH-EyoU project will also present the first 18 months results of the study.
The project, coordinated by Professor Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, is funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Programme with around two millions and a half Euros. The project is ambitious as its title suggests and it is demonstrated by the richness and meaningfulness of the conference program, which will include more than 20 presentations on the preliminary research results.
Moreover, young people will have the opportunity to have their say on how to build on active citizenship. In fact, high school students from five European countries discuss their work as active citizens to the conference audience, presenting the research they developed in their communities, to understand and provide solutions to social issues that they identified as relevant and challenging.
The conference, organized by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in collaboration with University of Bologna, is hosted at Amalia Hotel 10 Amalias ave., Syntagma Square, Athens 105 57. It has received the patronage of the European Parliament.
Official hastag of the conference: #catcheyou17. Live updates on our Twitter account @Catch_E_yoU and Facebook profile. More details on the conference can be found also on the official website www.catcheyou.eu/conference2017/
For more information, contact Elvira Cicognani, elvira.cicognani@unibo.it, University of Bologna, Project Coordinator, or Frosso Motti Stefanidi, frmotti@psych.uoa.gr, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Chair of the Conference.