Intellectual Outputs

According to the Erasmus+ Glossary “Intellectual Output” is an activity that results in tangible and meaningful outcomes such as publications and course materials. The Peacemakers Project has 4 Intellectual Outputs. These outputs are; Need Analysis, Strategy Paper, Online Course Curriculum and Train-the-trainer Camp Tool Kit for Peace Envoys, and Peace Dialogue Campus Network Best Practice Guide. All four of the intellectual outputs of the Peacemakers Project are open-access resources, available to students, scholars, and the general public via the download buttons to the right of this page. Please feel free to disseminate and use them in your research and projects.

Intellectual Output 1: Need Analysis

The Need Analysis and Strategy Paper were prepared based on an extensive literature review and analysis of the historical and current situation of migration to the countries of the project partners and policies developed over the years by authorities. They are complimentary to each other and they aim to identify the prejudice and discrimination level between migrants and natives in cities of the partner universities, by conducting surveys for three different target audiences; native students, migrant students, and migrants who are at university age, but do not have access to university. The surveys were conducted in 7 languages; Turkish, Dutch, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Arabic, via online tools (Qualtrics), face-to-face interviews, and focus groups. The survey was disseminated by partners to the native and migrant students, and to non-student migrants via several NGOs.

The effects of the interplay between positive and negative encounters between native and migrant people across the partner countries with different histories of migration and social policies were investigated. The effects of contact from both the perspectives of majority (native students) and minorities (foreign students and migrants), examining intergroup prejudice, discrimination and acculturation strategies were investigated to provide an exhaustive knowledge on the role of intergroup contact as a tool to reduce discrimination and promote social integration. The Need Analysis was conducted in three phases: 1) Preparation of the data-set, 2) preliminary analyses, 3)statistical analyses to test the hypotheses.

Intellectual Output 2:  Strategy Paper

The Strategy Paper was led by UNIBO and co-led by UAB. Based on an SPSS analysis of the results of the survey, it also includes the partner countries’ national policies towards migrants. The aim was to identify the prejudice and discrimination levels between migrants and natives in cities of the partner universities. Due to difficulties explained in the relevant sections of this report, UAB could not reach the minimum required number of respondents, but updated available relevant information about the Portuguese case is still part of the Need Analysis and Strategy Paper.

Intellectual Output 3: Online Course Curriculum and Train-the-trainer Camp Tool Kit for Peace Envoys

The content of the online course titled “How to stop discrimination and enhance cultural dialogue” reflects the expertise of all partners involved in the PEACEMAKERS Project, including but not limited to international relations, international conflict, intercultural communication and learning and social psychology. The course provides detailed understanding on the areas where local and migrant populations are facing problems, covering topics crucial to peacebuilding e.g. intergroup contact, stereotypes and prejudices, social inclusion, inequality and social justice, European citizenship, project cycle management, conflict resolution, intercultural learning, critical and creative/innovative thinking. It was developed as a self-learning open class course to pursue the goals and promote the fundamentals of the PEACEMAKERS project.

Examples of different academic approaches to the aspect of prejudices and stereotypes were discussed during the boot camps and they served as a foundation for further understanding. Based on these texts, additional studies that cover current problems of discrimination and migration within the European context are provided and complemented by videos to illustrate and support the presented theoretical approaches. Assessment is provided across the topics for self-learners and a set of assessments for those who want to get ECTS was created. The methodology, a proposed topic timeline is available, topic tasks are presented, the resources included, and a syllabus focused on the main subjects of the project’s boot camps. All project outputs are included in the course, including all the slides and sources of every boot camp, which makes them available to a broader interested public.

The course is temporarily hosted by Humboldt University, but will soon be transferred to the MOOC/Open Class platform of Universidade Aberta, the open education university of Portugal, where students will be able to register from anywhere in the world and get ECTS certification upon completion of the course successfully.

This online course serves as an extraordinary tool for students and stakeholders alike to educate themselves about prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination towards migration and migrants in Europe. This course will foster the intercultural understanding and dialogue in the respective societies.

Intellectual Output 4: Peace Dialogue Campus Network Best Practice Guide

This “Best Practice Guide for University Students on How to Design Your Own Social Inclusion Project” is prepared for university students planning to start a social inclusion project, but do not know where to start. A step-by-step approach will guide the way to a successful social inclusion student project that will raise awareness in their circles and attract others to get onboard. The “PEACEMAKERS” Project is taken as a case study, as the students involved in this project were required to come up with their own inclusion projects on or outside their campuses based on their training as Peace Envoys for two years in the project. They reported to their coordinators on a regular basis and shared their best practices including the impact of each project. The details of their projects and best practices are gathered in this guide. Peace Envoys from all partner universities, as well as other universities in the world, will be able to use this guide as a resource to develop new projects. The Peace Envoys reported to the SC members, and to the Project Coordinator (Ms. Sahin) on a regular basis about their activities. At the end of their project cycles, each group sent a comprehensive final report that included a comprehensive activity report with the project results, with a copy of everything that they created within the span of their project, including pictures, videos, documents, brochures, posters, screenshots of their social media posts, media appearances, etc. via email and Google drive. Ms. Sahin of KU created an excel sheet as a tool to evaluate all the projects based on a set of certain selection criteria; viability, innovativeness, inclusiveness, impactfulness, sustainability, dissemination, and report quality. The SC members evaluated each project using that tool. Since all the SC members had also guided and mentored their own students during the project cycle, we made sure each member evaluated only the groups of the other partners to ensure objective evaluation.