As RESISTIRÉ is coming to an end, partners gathered in Istanbul last week to reimagine the Open Studios, a core part of the project’s methodology. They were joined by external participants of previous Open Studios.

What are Open Studios?

In RESISTIRÉ, Open Studios provided an action-oriented analysis of the research results and insights of the project. They were designed to produce ideas for concrete action, input for recommendations to reshape policies, and questions that remained open (missing insights or knowledge). The approach is a technique developed to design policies in a participative way bringing together multiple expertise, including users’ experience.

Improving the methodology

Alain Denis, Managing Director of Yellow Window, opened the workshop by stressing the key role of this methodology in bringing about real, lasting change, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned around the same goals.

Participants then openly shared their previous experiences with Open Studios. They acknowledged this process for its ability to promote creativity and diverse perspectives. The method was described as a collaborative, horizontal process that encourages active listening and learning. One participant noted, “I prefer to listen and learn rather than teach.” However, challenges were also stressed, such as time constraints and facilitators’ pressure to maintain focus on solutions and actions.

In the workshop second part, partners reflected on the current open studio methodology and brainstormed solutions for challenges like using tension positively, finding synergy in conflicts, and integrating open studios into research proposals.

The brainstorming yielded solutions, creating a sense of community and energy among participants. Ayse Gul Altinay, a professor at Sabanci University, concluded by emphasizing the lessons learned and the future expansion of this approach to more projects.  One of the participants finished by saying that when it comes to open studios it’s about “…coming from a different backgrounds but managing to find a common language and solutions, and giving space for growth.”

Krizlerle Yaratıcı Mücadelenin Daha İyi Hikayeleri

22 Eylül 2023 

İstanbul & Zoom

Sabancı Üniversitesi  

Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi 

The Seed 

Konferans boyunca Türkçe-İngilizce çeviri sağlanacaktır.

Horizon 2020 RESISTIRÉ Projesi, krizlerin yarattığı ve/ya derinleştirdiği sosyal eşitsizliklere dair 30 ay süren kapsamlı bir araştırmaya ve uzmanların katılımıyla düzenlenen atölye çalışmalarına dayanarak bir dizi politika önerisi geliştirmiştir. Bu önerilerden bir kısmı, kapsayıcı ve çok aktörlü kriz yönetimi ihtiyacı, Ulusal Toparlanma ve Dayanıklılık Planlarında kadınların deneyimlerinin ve bakış açılarının yansıtılmaması, krize bir devamlılık olarak yaklaşma ihtiyacı ile günümüz dünyasını şekillendiren çoklu krizlerle yaratıcı ve etkili bir şekilde mücadele edebilmek için dönüştürücü hibe programlarının potansiyellerine odaklanmıştır.

İstanbul’da yapılacak ve bir gün sürecek olan bu konferans, krizlerle yaratıcı mücadele örneklerine dair RESISTIRÉ bulgularının paylaşılmasının ardından proje kapsamında geliştirilen iki politika metnine odaklanacaktır:

• Crisis as a Continuum: Learning from an Inclusive Feminist Crisis Response RESISTIRÉ Factsheet 18  / Krizlerin Devamlılığı: Kapsayıcı Feminist Mücadeleden Dersler RESISTIRÉ Politika Metni 18 

• Transformative Funding Schemes: A Pathway for Creative and Effective Crisis Response RESISTIRÉ Factsheet 19 / Dönüştürücü Fon Desteği: Krizlerle Yaratıcı ve Etkili Mücadele için Bir Yol Haritası RESISTIRÉ Politika Metni 19

RESISTIRÉ araştırması, krize bir devamlılık olarak yaklaşmanın önemini; başka bir deyişle, krizden ‘önce’ hazırlık yapılması, krizin etkilerinin en belirgin olduğu “akut noktasında” etkili bir şekilde mücadele edilmesi ve krizin ‘sonrasının’ takip edilmesi gerektiğini göstermiştir. Sivil toplum kuruluşları (STK’lar) bu devamlılığın tüm aşamalarına müdahale etmede, özellikle de en kırılgan grupların ihtiyaçlarının karşılanmasında kilit rol oynamaktadır. 

Araştırma bulgularımız, taban örgütlenmelerinin ve sivil toplum kuruluşlarının, pandemiden doğan ihtiyaçlara hızlı bir şekilde ve yenilikçi yöntemlerle yanıt verme konusunda resmi kurumlardan daha atik davrandığını göstermektedir. Avrupa ve dünya çok sayıda kriz ve felaketle (sağlık, savaş, enerji, gıda güvenliği, doğanın tahribatı, kuraklık, yangınlar, depremler, toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı şiddet) karşı karşıya olduğundan, STK’ların dayanıklılığını destekleyen ve krizlerle yaratıcı ve etkili mücadele edilmesini sağlayan hibe programlarının tasarlanması daha da zorunlu hale gelmiştir. Bu da hibe programlarında dönüştürücü, katılımcı, esnek, uzun vadeli, kapasite geliştirici çekirdek fon desteğine doğru bir değişimi gerektirmektedir. 

Bu oturumlar, dönüştürücü hibe programlarının daha iyi hikayeleriyle krizler bağlamında feminist ve LGBTQI+ mücadelenin daha iyi hikayelerini bir araya getirerek hem STK’ları hem fon kuruluşlarını içinden geçtiğimiz çoklu krizler karşısında nasıl daha dayanıklı, etkili ve yaratıcı hale getirebileceğimize dair elzem bir tartışmaya ve paylaşıma alan açmayı hedefliyor.

Konferans Programı 

Oturum I

Krizlerle Yaratıcı Mücadele: RESISTIRÉ Bulguları

13.00 – 14.15

Moderatör: Marina Cacace (Knowledge and Innovation) 

• Alain Denis (Yellow Window)  

RESISTIRÉ’nin Yaratıcı Metodolojisi 

• Sofia Strid (Göteborg Üniversitesi)  

RESISTIRÉ Bulguları ve Kayda Değer Etki Alanları 

• Pınar Ensari, Elena Ghidoni, Nazlı Türker 

RESISTIRÉ Anlatılar Kitabı: (Better) Stories from the Pandemic / Pandeminin (Daha) İyi Hikayeleri 

• Oğulcan Yediveren (SPoD – Sosyal Politika, Cinsiyet Kimliği ve Cinsel Yönelim Çalışmaları Derneği) 

Anket Metodolojisi Kullanan Araştırmacılar için LGBTQIA+ Kapsayıcılık El Kitabı 

Oturum II

Kriz ve Dayanışma: Pandemi ve Deprem Çalışmaları Bağlamında Türkiye’deki Feminist ve LGBTQI+ Mücadeleden Dersler

14.30 – 16.30

Moderatör: Ayşe Gül Altınay (Sabancı Üniversitesi) 

Sunum: RESISTIRÉ politika metinleri (Agnieszka Kolasińska, ISAS) 

Sunum: RESISTIRÉ Politika Metni 18: “Krizlerin Devamlılığı: Kapsayıcı Feminist Mücadeleden Dersler” (Ayşe Gül Altınay) 

Yuvarlak Masa:  

• Gülşah Şeydaoğlu (Kadın Koalisyonu) 
• Nebahat Akkoç (KAMER – Kadın Merkezi Vakfı) 
• Sevgi Uçan Çubukçu (EŞİK – Eşitlik için Kadın Platformu) 
• Havva Kafes (17 Mayıs Derneği) 
• Aysel Fidan (BAKAD – Barış için Kültürel Araştırmalar Derneği) 

Oturum III

Dönüştürücü Fon Desteği: Krizlerle Yaratıcı ve Etkili Mücadele için Bir Yol Haritası

17.00 – 19.00

Moderatörler: Alain Denis (Yellow Window) ve Hülya Adak (Sabancı Üniversitesi) 

Sunum: RESISTIRÉ Politika Metni 19: “Dönüştürücü Fon Desteği: Krizlerle Yaratıcı ve Etkili Mücadele için Bir Yol Haritası” (Ayşe Gül Altınay, Pınar Ensari, Nazlı Türker) 

Yuvarlak Masa: 

• Bethan Cansfield (Sigrid Rausing Trust) 
• Magda Pocheć (FemFund Polonya) 
• Mieke Verloo (Flax Vakfı) 
• Gülseren Onanç (SES – Eşitlik ve Dayanışma Derneği) 
• Nevgül Bilsel Safkan (Sabancı Vakfı)

Better Stories Of Creative Crisis Response

22 September 2023 

Istanbul & online

Based on 30 months of research and co-creative workshops with experts on inequalities in the face of crises, RESISTIRÉ has developed a series of policy recommendations regarding the need for inclusive and multi-actor crisis management, the missing perspectives of women in the pandemic National Recovery and Resilience Plans, the need to approach crisis as a continuum, and the potentials of transformative funding schemes for developing creative and effective civic responses to the multiple crises that shape our contemporary world.   

This one-day conference in Istanbul will highlight RESISTIRÉ findings on creative crisis responses followed by two dedicated sessions on RESISTIRÉ recommendations:  

• Crisis as a Continuum: Learning from an Inclusive Feminist Crisis Response RESISTIRÉ Factsheet 18  

• Transformative Funding Schemes: A Pathway for Creative and Effective Crisis Response RESISTIRÉ Factsheet 19 

RESISTIRÉ research has shown that crisis is best approached as a continuum, with the need to prepare ‘before’ the crisis, to respond effectively ‘during’ the peak manifestation of the crisis, and to follow the ‘afterlife’ of the crisis. Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a key role in responding to all phases of this continuum, particularly in terms of addressing the needs of the most vulnerable groups.        

Our research findings suggest that grassroots civil society organizations are often more agile to respond quickly to unmet needs, often in innovative ways. As Europe and the world face multiple crises and disasters (health, war, energy, food security, environmental degradation, drought, fires, earthquakes, gender-based violence), it has become all the more imperative to design funding schemes that support CSO resilience and enable creative and effective civic responses to crises. This requires a shift in funding schemes towards transformative, participatory, flexible, long-term, capacity-building core funding. 

These sessions aim to bring together the better stories of feminist and LGBTQI+ response to crises and better stories of transformative funding schemes for a much-needed conversation on how to make both funding organizations and NGOs more resilient, effective and creative in the face of the many crises and challenges facing the world today.

All sessions will be hybrid, click below to register for online attendance. Live translation between English and Turkish will be available throughout the conference.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Session I : RESISTIRÉ Findings on Creative Crisis Response

13.00 – 14.15 (Istanbul time)

Moderator: Marina Cacace (Knowledge and Innovation)   

• Alain Denis (Yellow Window): RESISTIRÉ’s Creative Methodology

• Sofia Strid (University of Gothenburg): RESISTIRÉ Results and Key Impact

• Pınar Ensari, Elena Ghidoni, Nazlı Türker: RESISTIRÉ Book of Narratives: (Better) Stories from the Pandemic

• Oğulcan Yediveren (SPoD – Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association): LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Handbook for Researchers Using Survey Methodology

Session II: Crisis and Solidarity: Learning from Feminist & LGBTQI+ Crisis Response to the Pandemic and the Earthquake in Türkiye

14.30 – 16.30 (Istanbul time)

Moderator: Ayşe Gül Altınay (Sabancı University)  

Agnieszka Kolasińska: Presentation on the RESISTIRÉ factsheets

Ayşe Gül Altınay: Presentation of the RESISTIRÉ Factsheet: “Crisis as a Continuum – Learning from an Inclusive Feminist Crisis Response”

Roundtable:

• Gülşah Şeydaoğlu (Women’s Coalition) 
• Nebahat Akkoç (KAMER Women’s Center)
• Sevgi Uçan Çubukçu (EŞİK – Women for Equality Platform) 
• Havva Kafes (May 17 Association)
• Aysel Fidan (BAKAD – Cultural Studies for Peace Association)

Session III: Transformative Funding: A Pathway for Creative and Effective Crisis Response

17.00 – 19.00 (Istanbul time)

Moderators: Alain Denis (Yellow Window) and Hülya Adak (Sabancı University)  

Ayşe Gül Altınay, Pınar Ensari, Nazlı Türker: Presentation of the RESISTIRÉ Factsheet “Transformative Funding: A Pathway for Creative and Effective Crisis Response

Roundtable:

• Bethan Cansfield (Sigrid Rausing Trust)
• Magda Pocheć (FemFund Poland)
• Mieke Verloo (Flax Foundation)
• Gülseren Onanç (SES Equality and Solidarity Association)
• Nevgül Bilsel Safkan (Director of the Sabancı Foundation)

Lessons from the pandemic for future research
on health inequalities:
The importance of an intersectional lens

RESISTIRÉ Research Agenda Online Webinar

Watch the recording!

Quickly after being identified as a public health emergency, it was clear that the COVID-19 pandemic affected us not only in terms of infections and deaths, but it also impacted many other health-related aspects of our lives.

With the last of the Research Agenda webinar series, RESISTIRÉ invites experts to reflect on some of the knowledge gaps in the field of health inequalities identified during the research done in the past two years. Aware that the project cannot cover all the research needs linked to the impact of  the pandemic and associated policies on health inequalities, we aim to bring these research gaps to the attention of other stakeholders who are interested in bringing them forward. In particular, we call for more intersectional research on this topic, as well as further investigation of the long-term impacts on health and health inequalities.

Outline

The webinar starts with a presentation of RESISTIRÉ’s research agenda on health inequalities and on intersectional data collection and analysis – outlining the identified knowledge gaps and research questions related to these topics – followed by each of the panellists’ reactions, a discussion moderated by our partner Sciensano and questions from the audience.

Invited panellists

• Aziz Naji, coordinator of the Unit “défis fédéraux de société” and of the Programme Drogues of BELSPO
• Raffaella Bucciardini, Director of the Health Equity Unit at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health)

RESISTIRE’s outputs related to health inequalities

RESISTIRE has identified knowledge gaps and research questions on health inequalities in its Agenda for Future Research from its 3rd research cycle and on intersectional data collection and analysis in its Agenda for Future Research from 2nd cycle. These findings allow us to support further research aimed at improving the development and implementation of crisis-related policies/responses considering their impacts on vulnerable groups and (pre-)existing inequalities, more specifically covering the following domains:

• Long-term and intersectional effects on mental health;
• Unequal access to sexual and reproductive health;
• Access to preventive resources for physical and mental health;
• Institutional support and interconnections between civil societies and professionals;
• Digital literacy and health;
• Gaps in intersectional data and in intersectional analysis

RESISTIRÉ’s factsheet on the need for “More Intersectional data” also provides recommendations on how this can be applied to the field of health inequalities.

Promoting pandemic preparedness: health and policy responses to protect wellbeing and address social inequalities

Date: Thursday, 7 September 2023

Location: University Foundation, Rue d’Egmont 11, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

RESISTIRÉ partner Claudia Aglietti will present the project’s key findings at Promoting pandemic preparedness: health and policy responses to protect wellbeing and address social inequalities, a conference organised by the RESPOND project.

We are thrilled to take part in the event alongside sister projects COVINFORM, PERISCOPE, and SHARE-COVID. These projects were funded by a SARS-CoV-2 grant from the European Union, within the scheme “Innovative and rapid health-related approaches to respond to COVID-19 and to deliver quick results for society for a higher level of preparedness of health systems (SC1-PHE- CORONAVIRUS-2020-2)”.

Picture: RESPOND

On 20 and 21 June, RESISTIRÉ organised its Final Conference “Towards Inclusive Crisis Responses” to share the project results and reflect on the recommendations developed during 30 months of research activities. The conference, held in Brussels and streamed on Zoom, gathered international experts, policymakers, activists, and representatives of NGOs, pilot projects and sister projects. Let’s look back on this inspiring 1.5 day event!

View the photo gallery

SESSION 1: Opening of RESISTIRÉ’s Final Conference, presentation of the project and keynote speech

Colette Schrodi, RESISTIRÉ Communication Officer, and Emmanouil Detsis, RESISTIRÉ Coordinator, European Science Foundation

Oriane Gilloz, Policy Officer at the Gender Sector at European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD)

Alain Denis, lead for developing RESISTIRÉ Open Studios, Yellow Window

Sofia Strid, RESISTIRÉ Scientific Coordinator, University of Gothenburg

Watch the replay!

SESSION 2: Better stories of responding to gender-based violence in the pandemic: Feminist solidarity in times of crisis

 Watch the replay!

The Open Studio Approach

Moderator: Anne-Charlott Callerstig, Örebro University

Panellists: Nazli Turker, Sabanci University; Aart Kerremans, Yellow Window; Alicja Bobek, Technical University of Dublin; Lina Sandström, Örebro University

The Book of Narratives: (BETTER) STORIES FROM THE PANDEMIC

The book is introduced by Claudia Aglietti and Elena Ghidoni before the whole editorial team joins them on stage.

 Watch the replay! 

SESSION 3: Beyond connection: caring for an inclusive digital transition

 Watch the replay!

SESSION 4: Bringing back care to healthcare

Moderation: Agnieszka Kolasińska, Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Conclusions from RESISTIRÉ’s research: Federica Rossetti, Sciensano

Innovative Pilot Solutions:

• Green spaces as eco-systems of care: Clément Rames (aquí)
• Care Fair: Aneta Brunerová (Nevypusť duši)

Panel discussion:

• Hanna Haveri, Specialist in neurology with competence in eHealth and planetary health physician at Päijät-Häme Joint Authority for Health and Wellbeing.
• Caroline Costongs, Director of EuroHealthNet
• Anke Witteveen, Clinical Psychology Assistant Professor, Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands
• Anna Szczegielniak, Psychiatry specialist, researcher and clinician at the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice

 Watch the replay!

Presentations from sister projects & impressions from pilot projects

 Watch the replay!

SESSION 5: Policy support for inclusive crisis responses

 Watch the replay!

closing keynote speech: looking towards the future

 Watch the replay!

Special thanks to Joyce from Visuality for creating the visuals summarising each session!

“(Better) stories From the Pandemic” is a book collecting 80 stories, 80 interviews with people who shared their experiences during the pandemic, experiences that speak about gender and intersecting inequalities.

During Resistiré we have collected almost 800 interviews and at some point, we wondered “how could we give these stories wider dissemination and allow them to inspire others? Then the idea of the book was brought forward.

In the pages of the book you will find the experiences of people who were already exposed to systemic social injustices, even before the pandemic shocked the world. In their own voices, the protagonists open up to tell how some of their difficulties suddenly escalated and became extremely unbearable during the crisis.

You will find stories of working mothers juggling various tasks. Stories of health workers exposed to unbearable risks and stress. Stories of young transsexuals forced into isolation with hostile parents. As well as undocumented migrants, people with disabilities and older people exposed to isolation.

In terms of structure, the book has no chapters, it is not divided in themes, nor by country. We resisted the idea of clustering each story in a specific theme. Instead, we liked this idea of having a flow, and sequencing the stories in waves: a challenging story is followed by one that conveys hope, resistance or change.

INTERSECTIONALITY AND HEALTHCARE:
LESSONS LEARNT FROM RESISTIRÉ

Watch the recording:

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant backlogs and delays in the healthcare sector. Attention given to the fight against the virus meant that other areas of healthcare have been deprioritised and people in need of non-urgent medical care, e.g., those living with chronic conditions, were less likely to have their medical needs met. As a result, pre-existing health inequalities have become even more visible, and access to quality health services – almost impossible for those less privileged. As revealed by the RESISTIRÉ research findings, women and girls, especially in rural and marginalised communities, struggled to receive adequate treatment and medical care. This was furthermore compounded by multiple or intersecting inequalities, such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, age, race, geographic location and sexual orientation. These healthcare disparities, brought into the spotlight by the COVID-19 emergency, call for a more intersectional approach to public health allowing for more targeted interventions and effective policies.

In this webinar we reflect on the prerequisites of more resilient healthcare systems across Europe. We look into the examples of good practices presented by the invited speakers in order to draw conclusions on how to ensure the continuity of healthcare services and how to address the physical, psychological and social health needs of vulnerable groups in the event of future emergencies.

Panellists

Mateusz Bieżuński

FEDERA Foundation for Women and Family Planning

Mateusz is a law student interested in sexual and reproductive health and rights and an activist of FEDERA. Professionally, he researches the anti-gender movement.

Karen Mullié

Community Health Workers

Karen has been working for the Christian Health Insurance Fund (CM) since 1998. Her focus areas are patient rights and advocacy. Since 2021 she has been working as the federal coordinator of the intermutual Community Health Workers project in Belgium.

Mathias Neelen

 Community Health Workers

Mathias started working for the Socialist Health Insurance Fund (Solidaris) in 2012. He focusses on accessibility, affordability, and quality of healthcare in Belgium. From the start of the COVID crisis in 2020, he contributed to the intermutual management of Field Agents in Flemish contact tracing. Since 2021 he is active as deputy coordinator of the intermutual Community Health Workers project in Belgium.

Tamás Gerencsér

Budapest Methodological Centre of Social Policy and Its Institutions

Tamás is a Policy Officer of the Training and Policy Department of BMSZKI. In this role he coordinates international strategic partnership projects such as PIE4shelters aimed to implement the principles of the Psychological Informed Environment approach into the operation of services where women are accommodated in our organisation, as well as the Erasmus+ Women and Homelessness project, sharing good practices and working methods in connection to the support of women experiencing homelessness.

As RESISTIRÉ comes to an end in September 2023, we are delighted to invite you to the project’s final conference:

Towards Inclusive CrisIs Responses

20-21 June 2023

Brussels

& online

Almost three years after the outbreak of COVID-19 we take a look at the impact that policies responding to the pandemic have had on inequalities, specifically when related to gender. Not only have these policies strongly increased existing inequalities related to work, care and health – leading to disastrous effects on people’s wellbeing and safety, they have also created new inequalities, such as in digitalisation, access to green spaces, or health services.
However, the crisis has also highlighted many Better Stories of inspiring policy and societal responses to these gendered impacts, striving to build back better by putting care, diversity, and social wellbeing at the centre of social change, and challenging gendered and intersectional power relations.

What could we do better next time? How can policies ensure more inclusive crisis responses?

This 1.5 day conference will present the project’s policy recommendations, based on inspiring Better Stories and pilot projects as a proof-of-concept for fairer and more inclusive crisis management. Gathering researchers, policymakers and representatives from civil society organisations, the event will focus on the following topics:

DAY 1: 20 June

• Presentation of key results from RESISTIRE

• Gender-based violence in the pandemic

DAY 2: 21 June

• Beyond connection: caring for an inclusive digital transition

• Bringing back care to healthcare

• Policy support towards inclusive crisis responses

 This programme overview is preliminary and will be completed with more details in the next weeks.

The event will be streamed online and physical participation will be limited. Be sure to save your seat!

The Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice (CDPRP) of Oxford Brookes University is pleased to invite you to a hybrid event on Gender-based violence in the world of work, where Dr Viginta Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė and Dr Sofia Strid will present the findings of their latest research.

Gender-based violence in the world of work

Watch the recording now!

During the Covid-19 pandemic, bullying, harassment, violence, verbal abuse, verbal threats, or unwanted sexual attention remained part of many workers’ day-to-day life. The 2021 European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) data show that 12.5% of workers in the EU experienced some form of adverse social behaviour. The share of women experiencing adverse social behaviour at work was consistently higher than that of men. In her presentation, Viginta will look at adverse social behaviours by age groups, presence of customers, place of work, by country, and for specific sectors and occupations. Exposure to adverse social behaviour at work is also linked to negative health outcomes, as well as job demands and resources. Sofia will present the importance of a gender+ framework when analysing inequalities, based on findings from two European-funded projects: UniSAFE and RESISTIRÉ. She will demonstrate how gender-based violence is highly prevalent among staff and students across European research performing organisations, and how its increase is related to inequalities in other domains (e.g. work, economy). She will also discuss the organisational context of violence, based on UniSAFE’s research.

Keynote speakers

Dr Viginta Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė is a research officer in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, Ireland. She is involved in projects investigating working conditions in Europe based on the European Working Conditions Survey. More specifically, she focuses on paid and unpaid working time, well-being, gender segregation, adverse social behaviour at work, psychosocial risks, minimum wages. Before joining Eurofound in 2022, she worked as an economic analyst at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and carried out cross-country research to support fiscal policy development in the EU. She also worked as a researcher at the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the Lithuanian Social Research Centre and as a lecturer at Vilnius University. Her other research interests include income inequality, poverty, gender equality, as well as fiscal and social policy. Viginta holds an MA in Social Policy and a PhD in Social Sciences (Sociology) from Vilnius University. She was a visiting researcher at the University of Antwerp, Stockholm University and the University of Essex.

Dr Sofia Strid is Associate Professor in Gender Studies at Örebro University, and from April 2022 also holds a position as Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Gothenburg University. Her research interests are oriented towards the social and political sciences and can be summarised as: 1) feminist and social theory; 2) politics and policy, mobilisation, activism and opposition; 3) gendered and intersectional perspectives on sustainability; and 4) feminist violence studies, in online/offline contexts. She applies both qualitative and quantitative methods. Sofia Strid co-directs the three-university GEXcel International Collegium for Advanced Transdisciplinary Gender Studies with Senior Professor Liisa Husu, and chairs two research strands within the field Gender, Violence & Society. Sofia Strid also directs the Centre for Violence Studies, together with Dr Susanne Strand, Associate Professor in Criminology, and leads the research group Feminist Violence Studies. Sofia Strid’s research has been funded by the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Institute for Gender Equality, the Swedish Research Council and FORTE.